1~ 

Q  0. 


MEMOIR 


OF 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 


WITH  SELECTIONS  FROM  HIS  WORKS,  AND 
CRITICISMS. 


BY  CHARLES 'ADAMS,  D.D. 


NEW  YORK : 
CARLTON    &,    LANAHAN. 

SAN  FRANCISCO:    E.  THOMAS. 
CINCINNATI:    HITCHCOCK   &    WALDEN. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL     I)  IfiP  A  RT  U  V  NT. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Coiigreta,  in  the  year  1870. 
BY  CARLTON  &  LANAHAN, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  SUtet  for 
the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


WS2 

T7Z 

' 


TO 

HON.  JACOB  SLEEPER, 

A  FKIBND  OF  MANY  YEARS, 

Cbts  Volume 

18 
AFFECTIONATELY  AND  GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED. 


768 


PREFACE. 


THE  "  Life  and  Letters  of  Washington 
Irving,"  m  four  volumes,  prepared  by  his 
nephew,  Pierre  M.  Irving,  and  published  since 
the  death  of  his  illuscrious  uncle,  has  been  for 
several  years  before  the  public,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered a  model  work  of  its  kind.  It  seems 
quite  certain,  however,  that  a  brief  and  direct 
history  of  Irving,  such  as  would  be  comprised 
in  a  single  volume  of  moderate  size,  and  includ- 
ing slight  specimens  of  some  of  his  more  popu- 
lar compositions,  would  supply  a  positive  de- 
sideratum, and  be  an  acceptable  service,  espe- 
cially to  multitudes  of  our  youth,  and  others 
besides,  who  would  shrink  from  the  expense  of 
a  much  more  voluminous  biography. 

Washington  Irving  was  one  of  the  distin- 
guished fathers  of  American  Literature,  and  his 
service  in  this  field  must  ev*r  be  deemed  of 
great  and  special  importance  to  his  country. 
Hence  it  has  very  seriously  impressed  the 
author  of  this  little  work  that  the  history  and 
many  of  the  writings  of  Jrying  should  be  as 
widely  known  as  the  language  itself,  and  to 


6  Preface. 

further  such  an  object  was  a  prominent  purpose 
of  these  pages.  Of  course  to  the  literati,  pro- 
fessional men,  and  students  of  the  country,  the 
eminent  author  and  his  works  are  sufficiently 
familiar.  At  the  same  time,  to  thousands  of 
both  sexes,  outside  of  these  several  classes,  the 
author  of  the  "  Sketch  Book"  is  still  a  stranger, 
and  to  this  day  the  magical  pen  he  wielded  has 
brought  no  instruction  or  amusement. 

If,  therefore,  to  such  this  unpretending  volume 
shall  tend  to  bring  the  distinguished  writer  and 
his  Works  more  prominently  to  notice,  and  en- 
tice to  a  still  wider  perusal  and  study  of  them, 
then  will  our  humble  effort  not  be  in  vain.  And 
what  was  remarked  by  Edward  Everett  in  the 
North  American  Review  touching  one  of  Mr. 
Irving's  volumes  may  be  well  applied  to  the 
majority  of  his  published  writings :  "  The  Ameri- 
can father  who  can  afford  it  and  docs  not  buy  a 
copy  (of 'Tour  on  the  Prairies')  docs  not  de- 
serve that  his  sons  should  prefer  his  fireside  to 
the  bar-room,  the  pure  and  chaste  pleasures  of 
a  cultivated  taste  to  the  gross  indulgences  of 
sense.  He  does  not  deserve  that  his  daughters 
should  pass  their  leisure  hours  in  maidenly 
seclusion,  and  the  improvement  of  their  minds, 
rather  than  to  flaunt  on  the  sidewalks  by  day, 
and  pursue,  by  night,  an  eternal  round  of  taste- 
less dissipation." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Irving's  Birth — Name — General  Washington's  Blessing- 
Boyhood  —  Reading — Tendencies  — Theater — Wai  ning — His 
Limited  Education — Literary  Eminence Page  15 

CHAPTER  II. 

Irving  commences  the  Study  of  Law — Incompatibility- 
Belles  Lettres — Excursions — Deep  Interest— First  Movements 
of  his  Pen— ••  Jonathan  Old  style  "—Success — Interesting  Ex- 
cursion to  Ogdensburgh —  The  Party —  The  Disasters — Fifty 
Years  afterward — Affecting  Memories 22 

CHAPTER  III. 

Irving  at  Twenty-one — Personal  Appearance — Social  Char* 
acter — Popularity — Feeble  jiealth  —  Embarks  for  Europe — 
Reflections  oa  Shipboard— Arrival  at  Bordeaux.. .......  28 

CHAPTER  IV. 

French  Language  —  Journal—  French  "  Diligence  "—The 
" Little  Doctor  "  —  Montpelier— Marseilles—  Nice—Genoa— 
Delightful  Times — Embarks  for  Sicily — Syracuse— Mount  Etna 
— Palermo — Naples — Rome — Washington  A  list  on — Painting 
— Fortunate  Escape — Madame  de  Stael— rHer  Conversation— 
t  Writings— Irving  reaches  Paris— Residence  there 32 


s. 

Contents. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Irving  leaves  Paris  for  London— Brussels — Holland — Thea- 
ter going— Mrs.  Siddons — Irving  enraptured — Brief  Excursions 
— Embarksfor  New  York— Established  Health— Resumes  Law 
Studies — Admitted  to  the  Bar — Declines  Practicing—"  Salma- 
gundi " — Its  Character  and  Influence — Discontinuance  Page  41 


CHAPTER  VI. 

"Salmagundi"— Will  Wizard— His  Ball  Dress— His  Dan- 
cing — Charity  Cockloft— Her  Character — Piety— Curiosity  46 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"  History  of  New  York  "—History  of  the  "  History  "—The 
"Work  —  Its  Superabundant  Humor — Contemporaneous  No- 
tices—Blackwood— North  American— Walter  Scott— Style  of 
the  "  History" — Offense  taken  by  certain  Dutch  Descendants 
—Laughable  Instance  at  Albany. . . : 52 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

"  History  "— Wouter  Von  Twiller— His  Prodigious  Intellect 
—Personal  Appearance — Wilhelmus  Kieft — His  Peculiar  Tem- 
perament— Remarkable  Countenance — A  Fine  Lady  of  the 
Dutch  Dynasty — The  Fashionable  Dutch  Gentleman — The 
New  England  Barbarians,  or  Yankees . ,  57 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Irving' s  Apparent  Indifference  to  the  Success  of  his  "  His- 
tory"— Temperament — Manners — Life  Crisis — Matilda  Hoff- 
man—A Mutual  Attachment— Her  Sickness  and  Death — 
Stunning  Influences  upon  Irving — "Cast  down,  but  not 
destroyed"— Rallies  and  takes  heart  again 67 


Contents.  9 

CHAPTER  x. 

A  Silent  Partnership— A  Pause  of  the  Pen — A  Visit  to  Wash- 
ington— Resigns  himself  to  the  Gayeties  of  the  Capital— As- 
sumes Editorial  Charge  of  the  "Analectic  Review"— Con- 
tributes many  interesting  Pieces — The  Position  distasteful — 
Embarks  for  Europe — His  Brother  Peter — His  Sister,  Mrs. 
Van  Wart — Several  Visits — Partnership  Business — Embarrass- 
ments—Fraternal Affection— Chastened  Views  — "  Fortune  " 
and  "Providence" — Bankruptcy Page  72 

CHAPTER  XL 

The  "  Low  Estate" — Remarkable  Letter — James  Ogilvie— 
Excursion  to  Scotland— Visit  to  Abbotsford— Other  pleasant 
Visits  and  Acquaintances So 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Irving  resumes  his  Pen — Invited  to  a  Situation  in  the  Navy 
Board— Declines— Publishes  first  Number  of  "Sketch-Book" 
— Its  Character  and  Style — Highly  approved  and  successful  90 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Mr.  Roscoe — A  Royal  Poet — Westminster  Abbey — Medita- 
tions—English Stage-coachman — John  Bull 94 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Irving  visits  Paris — The  Poet  Moore — Mutual  Friendship— 
George  Canning — Lord  John  Russell — John  Howard  Payne- 
Talma — Bancroft 103 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Sudden  Return  to  London — Coronation  of  George  IV.— 
Scott— Leslie,  the  Artist— The  "Stout  Gentleman" — A  Cu- 
rosity  of  Literature — Extract  from  Watts — Sickness— Other 
Afflictions—"  Bracebridge  Hull " loS 


io  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XVL 

Character  of  "  Bracebridge  Hall  "—Lady  Lfflycraft  and  her 
Dogs— "Family  Reliques"— Pensive  Reflections— A  "Wet 
Sunday  "—Notices  of  the  Edinburgh  Review Page  1 12 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Relaxation— Embarks  for  Holland— Up  the  Rhine— Aix  La 
Chapeile— Other  Cities— Baths  of  Baden — Charming  Scenery- 
Black  Forest — Saltzburg— Vienna— Prague— Dresden— A  de- 
lightful Residence—The  Fosters — Royal  Family — Their  ample 
Hospitality— Pen  inactive — Weariness  of  "  Fashionable  Life*' 
—An  important  Confession 120 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

From  Dresden  to  Paris — Temporary  Engagement  with  Mr. 
Payne — Revision  of  "  Salmagundi "  for  a  French  Publisher— 
Edition  of  English  Authors,  with  Biographical  Sketches — 
"Tales  of  a  Traveler" — Goes  to  London — Poet  Spencer — 
Rogers — Compton — Moore — Mrs.  Van  Wart — The  Fosters—- 
Publication of  "Tales  of  a  Traveler" — Moore's  two  Opinions 
—Extracts  from  "  Buckthorne:s  Autobiography  " 127 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

"  Blackwood's  "  resume  of  Irving  and  his  Publications — His 
Life  and  Personal  Appearance — Newspaper  Essays — Salma- 
gundi —  Knickerbocker  —  Naval  Biography — Sketch- Book  — 
Bracebridge  Hall— Talcs  of  a  Traveler  —  The  Reviewer's 
Farewell 135 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Irving' s  Return  to  Paris— Long  Interval  of  Literary  Inactivity 
— Depression  of  Spirits — Advice  to  Nephew — Remark  upon  it 
— Autumnp.l  Excursion  with  Peter — Their  Winter  Establish- 
ment— A  Pleasant  Picture — Departure  of  the  Brothers  for 
Bordeaux. 148 


Contents.  I X 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Correspondence  with  Minister  Everett — Departure  for  Ma- 
drid— Irving  commences  a  "Life  of  Columbus  "—Writes  his 
"  Conquest  of  Granada  " — A  Diligent  Year — Finishes  "  Co- 
lumbus " —  Highly  Applauded  — Extracts :  The  Man  ;  The 
Ships;  The  Approach;  The  Discovery;  The  Landing;  The 
Natives Page  154 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

A  Vacation— Irving  sets  out  for  the  South — Interesting 
Scenery  —  Cordova  —  Granada  — The  Alhambra —  Malaga- 
Picturesque  Journey  —  Gibraltar — Cadiz  —  Seville — Spanish 
People 166 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

A  Year  at  Seville— His  Companion— Suburban  Cottage — 
Rational  Sentiment  and  Rational  Enjoyment — Letter  to  Prince 
Dolgorouki — Visit  to  Palos — Cerillo — Publication  of  "  Con- 
quest of  Granada" — Extract :  Kingdom  and  City  of  Granada 
before  the  Conquest— The  People— Military  Character— Po- 
litical Position 4  172 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

An  Editorship  proposed  to  Irving — Declined — Prepares  an 
Abridgment  jf  "  Columbus "  —  A  Laborious  and  Tranquil 
Year — A  Diploma — Lodging  for  Home — Reluctance  to  leave 
Spain— An  Excursion  with  Prince  Dolgorouki — Off  for  Gra- 
nada— Lodgings  in  the  Alhambra— Irving  in  his  Element—- 
His Quarters— Sets  to  Work— Finishes  ••  Legends  of  the  Con- 
quest of  Spain  " — Appointed  "  Secretary  of  Legation  to  Lon- 
don " — Accepts  the  Appointment  —  Regrets  at  leaving  the 
'•Alhambra" 183 


12  Contents. 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Departure  for  England — Traveling  Companion — The  Route 
— Traveling  Companion's  Sickness  and  Death— Arrival  at 
London— The  Secretaryship— Pleasant  Situation  and  Com- 
fortable Circumstances — Receives  a  Royal  Medal — Doctorate 
of  Civil  Law  at  Oxford — Laughable  Demonstration — Irving 
and  his  new  Title ..Page  191 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

"  Voyages  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus  " — Secretaryship 
Burdensome — Released  after  Two  YCI.TS*  Service — Various 
Visits — Publishes  "  Alhambra" — Embarks  for  New  York— 
Greeted  with  great  cordiality — Public  Dinners — Visits  and 
Excursions — Full  of  Animation  and  Delight — Accompanies  a 
Government  Commission  to  the  Far  West — Winters  at  Wash- 
ington— Resumes  Literary  Labors — Extract  from  "Compan- 
ions of  Columbus  " 196 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Cordial  Reception  of  the  "Alhambra" — Everett— Prescott 
— Extracts:  Journey  to  Granada — Spain  —  Aspect  of  the 
Country — Birds — Traveling — Dangers — Muleteers  —  Robbers 
— Author's  Lodgings  at  the  Alhambra — First  Night. . . .  205 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

"Miscellanies"— "Tour  on  the  Prairies"— North  Ameri- 
can— Extracts  :  The  Prairie  Indian  ;  Wild  Horses  of  the  Prai- 
rie ;  One  Captured  ;  His  Subjugation  ;  Reflections  of  Irving; 
Buffalo  Hunt ;  Success ;  Prairie  Dogs  ;  Their  Villages  and 
Associates — Succeeding  Volumes  of  the  "  Miscellanies  "  217 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

"Astoria** — History  of  the  Work — Various  approving  No- 
tices— Extracts:  Climate  of  the  Far  West — Desperate  Cir- 
cumstances—" Adventures  of  Captain  Bonneville" — The  Trap- 


Contents.  1 3 

pcrs  of  the  Far  West — The  Trapper's  Indian  Wife— Curious 

Use  of  the  Lasso— Hear  and  Dull  Fight Page  229 

,* 
CHAPTER  XXX, 

.  Purchase  of  "  Sunnyside  " — Original  Property — Erection 
of  the  New  Cottage — Irving's  Plans — Letter  to  Peter— Peter 
arrives  at  New  York — Sunny  Picture  of  Irving  at  Fifty-three 
Years  of  Age 243 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Tammany  Nomination  for  Mayor  of  New  York — Declined—- 
Invitation to  a  Seat  in  President  Van  Buren's  Cabinet — Also 
declined— Death  of  Judge  Irving — Death  of  Peter— The  latter 
specially  afflictive — Affecting  Letter  of  Irving  to  his  Sister — 
Commences  a  new  work,  "  Conquest  of  Mexico  " — Forestalled 
by  Mr.  Prescott— -Abandons  the  Enterprise. . 250 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

Engagement  with  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine — Continues 
Two  Years — His  Articles  of  the  Magazine  collected  into  a 
Volume—41  Wolfert's  Roost  "  —  Unprecedented  Amount  of 
Commendations — Extracts  :  Chronicle  I.  of  the  "  Roost ; " 
"  Wolfert  Acker ;"  English  and  French  Character 256 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Biography  of  Goldsmith — Of  Margaret  Davidson — Picture 
of  the  Sunnyside  Neighborhood 265 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Irving  appointed  Minister  to  Spain— Appointment  highly 
approved  by  the  Public — Proceeds  to  Spain  via  England  and 
France —Pleasant  Quarters — Presentation  at  Court — Bright 
Anticipations — Disappointment — Return  of  III  Health — Writ- 
ing prohibited— Visit  to  France — Longing  for  Home — Visits 
France  and  England — Gayety  of  the  Spanish  Court — The 
young  Queen  Isabella 269 


14  Contents. 

"CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Restored  Health—Pen  resumed— Resignation  and  Return- 
Great  Joy — Enlarges  the  Cottage — Pleasant  Picture — At  work 
on  "  Life  of  Washington  "—Uniform  Edition  of  his  Works — 
"  Life  of  Mahomet  and  his  Successors  "—Return  of  III  Health 
— Visits  Saratoga  and  Washington — Receives  great  attention 
—Returns  to  "Sunnyside" Page  278 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Declining  Health  —  Cheerful  Spirits  —  First  Volume  of 
"Washington" — Misgivings— Note  from  Bancroft — Second 
and  Third  Volumes  issued — Notes  of  Approval  from  Prescott, 
Bancroft,  Tuckerman,  and  others — "Life  of  Washington*' 
finished — Edward  Everett's  general  view  of  Irving's  Writ- 
ings.   285 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Financial  Exhibit— Avails  of  English  Copyrights— Avails 
of  American  Leases — Avails  of  the  Uniform  Edition — Entire 
Amount  in  the  Author's  Life-time — Entire  Amount  to  1864 — 
Inference. 295 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Mr.  Irving*s  Religious  Character — Remarks  concerning  his 
Brother  Ebenezer — Connection  with  the  Episcopal  Church — 
State  of  Mind  in  his  last  Illness — Rapid  Decline — Decease — 
BuriaL 297 


MEMOIR 


OF 


WASHINGTON  IRVING. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IT  was  a  deeply  interesting  point  in  our 
history  when  Washington  Irving  was  born* 
The  war  of  the  Revolution  was  just  closing, 
peace  was  dawning  upon  the  land,  the  independ- 
ence for  which  "the  fathers"  had  struggled  so 
long  and  so  manfully  was  about  to  be  recognized 
by  the  mother  country,  and  the  United  States 
of  America  was  now  to  commence  as  a  nation 
its  great  and  eventful  career. 

Washington  was  born  in  April,  1783,  and 
grew  to  be  very  much  such  a  boy  as  might  be 
supposed  from  a  contemplation  of  his  developed 
manhood.  He  was  a  sprightly,  buoyant,  witty, 
somewhat  mischievous,  yet  not  a  vicious  child, 
deeply  affectionate  toward  his  parents,  especially 
his  mother,  who,  as  is  natural,  felt  a  mother's 


1 6          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

pride  in  her  soil.  "  But  it  grieved  her  that  he 
•  did  not  take  more  kindly  to  religion  ;  and  at 
times,  in  the  midst  of  one  of  his  effusions  of  wit 
and  drollery,  she  would  look  at  him  with  a  half- 
mournful  admiration,  and  exclaim,  '  O  Wash- 
ington, if  you  were  only  good  !'" 

The  meaning  of  this  wish  doubtless  was  that 
her  beloved  child  were  religiously  good — that, 
amid  all  his  sprightliness  and  all  his  promising 
traits,  he  were  cherishing  in  his  heart  the  fear 
of  God,  and  a  joyful  trust  in  his  mercy  through 
Christ  the  Saviour.  And  as  with  a  thoughtful 
and  Christian  eye  we  trace  the  career  of  this 
child  along  his  youth  and  riper  years,  we  cannot 
forbear  the  earnest  regret  that  his  mother's 
pious  wish  for  her  child  had  not  been  realized. 
Happy  had  it  been,  as  well  for  the  world  as  for 
himself,  it  God's  Holy  Spirit  had  been  invited  to 
enkindle  right  early  that  eminent  genius,  and 
inspire  for  the  highest  good  of  the  race  that 
brilliant  pen ! 

Born,  as  Irving  was,  just  as  the  war  ended, 
it  was  eminently  fit  that  a  child  so  beau- 
tiful and  promising  should  receive  a  name  that 
had  become  so  celebrated.  "  Washington's  work 
is  ended,"  said  the  mother,  "  and  the  child  shall 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  17 

be  named  after  him."  And  very  pleasant  and 
noteworthy  is  the  incident  that,  when  the  great 
Washington  returned  to  New  York  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  a  Scotch  maid,  servant  of 
the  Irving  family,  accosted  him  one  morning, 
and  pointing  to  the  lad  scarcely  yet  emerged 
from  his  virgin  trowsers,  exclaimed,  "Please 
your  honor,  here's  a  bairn  was  named  for  you." 
And  Washington  placed  his  hand  on  the  head 
of  the  little  boy  and  gave  him  his  blessing.  All 
this  cc^i  hardly  fail  to  remind  us  of  a  similar 
transaction  when  One  infinitely  greater  than 
Washington  took  little  children  up  in  his  arms 
and  blessed  them. 

The  anecdotes  told  us  of  Irving's  early  boy- 
hood are  highly  characteristic,  and  indicate  to 
a  considerable  extent  the  genius  and  character 
of  the  forthcoming  man.  At  eleven  years  old 
we  find  him  becoming  much  interested  in  certain 
kinds  of  reading,  among  which  books  of  voyages 
and  travels  held  a  conspicuous  place.  By  con- 
stant perusal  of  works  of  this  character  he  be- 
came inflamed  with  a  passion  for  going  abroad 
to  see  the  world  for  himself.  "  How  wistfully," 
said  he,  "  would  I  wander  about  the  pier  heads 

in  fine  weather,  and  watch  the  parting  ships 
2 


1 8          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

bound  to  distant  climes;  with  what  longing 
eyes  would  I  gaze  after  their  lessening  sails, 
and  waft  myself  in  imagination  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth!" 

A  more  damaging  tendency  and  passion  soon 
affected  this  ardent  and  talented  boy.     Having, 
on  one  occasion,  attended  a  theater,  he  is  repre- 
sented as  being  so  delighted  with   the  acting 
that   henceforward   he   felt   and   cherished    a 
special  fondness  for  theatrical  entertainments. 
Hence,  as  we  trace  him  through  all  his  youthful 
years,  and  in  maturer  life,  and  amid  his  sojourn- 
ings  in  one  and  another  city,  at  home  or  abroad, 
we  cannot  help  discerning  that  the  theater  was 
one  of  the  very  prominent  amusements  in  which 
he  indulged.     It  is  painful,  too,  to  notice  that 
his  early  indulgence  and  pleasure  in  this  species 
of  amusement  was  the  "  sweetness  of  stolen 
waters."     His  attendance  at  the  theater  being 
under  parental  interdict,  it  is  represented  as  his 
habit  that  he  would  go  early  and  see  the  play, 
then  hurry  home  to  prayers  at  the  hour  of  nine, 
retire  afterward  to  his  room  as  if  for  the  night, 
pass  slyly  out  of  his  window,  and  steal  back  to 
the  theater  to  witness  the  afterpiece  ;  after  which 
he  would  return  by  the  same  way  to  his  room. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          19 

Let  all  boys  remember  that  examples  like  this 
should  never  be  imitated  ;  and  that  while  the 
amusement  itself,  with  the  asual  accompani- 
ments, is  more  than  doubtful,  his  means  of 
securing  it,  and  the  disobedience  prompting 
those  means,  were  a  positive  wrong,  and  could 
never  be  reviewed  with  an  approving  conscience. 

A  very  important  lesson  for  parents  is  also 
here.  It  is  likely  that  for  young  and  imagina- 
tive people  few  amusements  present  a  stronger 
or  more  dangerous  fascination  than  the  theater. 
Such  youth,  having  once  tasted  this  pleasure, 
long  for  its  repetition,  while  the  dangerous  appe- 
tite "  grows  by  what  it  feeds  on  "  until  many 
a  strong  tie,  not .  excepting  that  of  integrity 
itself,  often  yields  to  the.  fatal  fascination  of  the 
siren.  That  young  Irving  was  ever  so  sadly 
drawn  into  this  vortex  does  not  appear,  save  in 
the  instance  specified.  But  that  the  theater 
formed  one  of  the  capital  charms  of  his  youth- 
ful years  is  painfully  evident.  How  far  this 
kind  of  indulgence  and  recreation  operated 
to  prevent  him  from  early  following  his  parents 
in  the  way  of  piety  cannot  be  estimated ;  but 
that  an  important  influence  was  thus  exerted  in 
the  direction  alluded  to  seems  morally  certain. 


2O          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Young  Irving  was  not  liberally  educated  ; 
and  we  trace  him  as  a  school-boy,  and  in  one 
and  another  school,  until  he  reached  the  age  of 
fifteen.  At  the  last  school  which  he  attended, 
where  he  remained  about  eighteen  months,  he 
studied  the  Latin  language,  which  seems  to 
have  been  his  nearest  approach  to  a  classical 
education.  Mathematical  studies  appear  not  to 
have  been  pursued  beyond  common  arithmetic  ; 
while  this  was,  with  him,  one  of  the  most  irk- 
some of  his  studies.  In  composition,  as  may 
well  be  supposed,  he  was  far  more  interested 
and  successful ;  a  circumstance  which  seems  to 
have  often  led  him  to  "  exchange  work "  with 
one  and  another  of  his  mates — they  working 
out  his  sums,  and  he  writing  out  their  compo- 
sitions. 

Thus,  before  attaining  his  sixteenth  year,  was 
the  school  education  of  Washington  Irving 
finished.  It  is  certainly  an  interesting  fact  in 
the  history  of  American  literature  that  he  who 
is  recognized  as  one  of  its  chief  pioneers  and 
fathers  was  himself  but. a  self-educated  man. 
For  half  a  century  have  the  thousands  of  un- 
dergraduates in  our  colleges  seized  eagerly  upon 
the  works  of  this  man  as  their  favorite  author 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  21 

in  the  department  of  belles  let t res ;  and  he 
who,  among  the  numerous  college  and  public 
libraries,  would  light  upon  the  books  the  most 
handled  and  worn  of  all  others,  must  not  over- 
look the  fascinating  volumes  of  Irving.  Nor  is 
the  charm  attendant  upon  his  pen  that  which 
affects  merely  the  tyro  in  literature.  The 
ripe  and  mature  scholar  roams  with  equal  and 
even  superior  pleasure  amid  these  gardens  of 
beauty  ;  and  the  "  Great  Wizard  of  the  North," 
with  as  much  enthusiasm  as  the  ardent  youth 
amid  his  varied  classic  exercises,  was  wont  to 
discuss,  with  no  ordinary  relish,  the  pleasant 
viands  supplied  by  this  extraordinary  caterer  of 
literary  delights.  How  is  all  this  ?  We  may 
pause  only  to  respond  that  it  is  not  in  colleges 
or  college  training ;  it  is  not  in  education  ;  not 
in  surroundings ;  not  in  smiles  or  sorrows, 
riches  or  poverty  *f  not  in  travel,  observation,  or 
all  learning  and  knowledge.  It  is  in  the  man 
himself;  and  in  something  thefe  which,  like 
the  century  plant,  blooms  not  every  year  nor 
every  generation. 


22          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  II. 

AT  sixteen  years  of  age,  therefore,  his  school 
studies  being  finished,  young  Irving  com- 
menced the  study  of  the  law,   or,  rather,  he 
entered  a  law  office,  sojourning  there  during 
two  years,  in  which  the  study  of  belles-lettres 
seems  to  have  been  far  more   diligently  and 
successfully  pursued  than  that  of  law.     Indeed, 
it  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  youth  less  adapted 
to  the    studies   and  practice  of  law  than   he. 
Vastly  more  congenial  with  his  temperament 
and  tastes  was  it  to  be  reveling  amid  the  wild 
and  beautiful  scenery  which  stretched  away  in 
various  directions  from  the  city  of  his  birth. 
Hence  we   see  him  gladly  escaping  from  the 
law  office,  with  its  arid  studies  and  rough  and 
thorny  associations,  to  commit  himself,  with  a 
friend  or  two,  to  a  long  excursion  up  the  Hud- 
son, and  among  the  then  wild  regions  beyond. 
Far  away  above  Albany,  where  at  the  begin- 
ing  of  the  century  was  the  frontier  of  civiliza- 
tion, dwelt  an  elder  sister,  who,  at  a  tender  age, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  23 

had  gone,  with  her  youthful  husband,  to  dwell 
amid  those  northern  outskirts.  Thither  Irving 
was  bound.  It  was  the  year  1800,  when  steam- 
boats and  railroads  were  unknown  ;  and  this 
was  his  first  voyage  up  that  noble  stream 
whose  shores  were  in  after  time  to  be  made 
classic  by  the  witchery  of  his  pen,  and  on 
whose  banks  would  one  day  repose  the  lovely 
villa  where,  after  long  and  weary  sojournings 
in  foreign  lands,  he  would  make  his  earthly 
resting-place. 

Long  afterward  he  wrote  of  this  early  voy- 
age and  its  pleasant  experience.  There  was  the 
boy-like  eagerness  to  embark,  the  final  floating 
away  of  the  sloop  from  the  wharf  into  the  broad 
stream,  the  exchange  of  adieus  with  friends 
ashore,  the  grand  scenery  of  the  Palisades,  the 
"  intense  delight "  of  that  first  sail  through  the 
Highlands,  the  overhanging  forests,  the  "witch- 
ing effect"  of  the  Kaatskill  Mountains- — now 
seeming  to  approach  the  shore,  then  receding 
and  melting  away  into  the  hazy  distance.  It 

was   his  lot  in  subsequent  years   to  traverse 

,* 

some  of  the  rivers  of  the  old  world,  and  such  as 
are  renowned  in  history  and  song;  yet  these, 
he  remarks,  ^rcre  never  able  to  efface  or  dim 


24          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

the  pictures  of  his  native  stream,  so  early 
stamped  upon  his  memory.  He  would  always 
revert  to  them  with  a  filial  feeling,  and  with  a 
recurrence  of  the  joyous  associations  of  his 
boyhood. 

A  year  or  two  afterward  we  find  him,  in  com- 
pany with  a  friend,  on  another  excursion  up  the 
Hudson — at  the  Springs,  and  elsewhere.  At 
this  time  he  is  an  invalid,  with  consumptive 
symptoms  and  tendencies,  and  he  returns 
home  with  health  still  drooping  and  uncertain. 

Now  it  is  when,  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  we 
trace  the  first  movements  of  Irving' s  pen  with 
a  view  to  publication.  They  consist  in  a  series 
of  humorous  contributions  under  the  signature 
of  "  Jonathan  Olclstyle,"  and  were  published  in 
the  "  Morning  Chronicle."  Even  these  earliest 
attempts  of  his  pen  were  popular,  and  were  ex- 
tensively copied  in  the  prints  of  the  time ;  and 
twenty  years  afterward,  when  their  author  was 
abroad  in  Europe  and  had  now  became  famous, 
they  were,  without  his  consent  or  approbation, 
collected  and  republished. 

In  the  following  summer  Irving  was  one  of  a 
very  interesting  party  made  up  for  an  excursion 
to  Ogdcnsburg,  Montreal,  and  Quebec.  This 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  2$ 

company  comprised,  besides  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  two  highly  respectable  families,  consist- 
ing each  of  husband,  wife,  and  daughter,  and 
the  expedition  must  have  promised,  of  course, 
no  small  amount  of  pleasure  to  the  several  par- 
ties, and  not  the  least  to  the  young  gentleman 
himself.     It  proved  a  scene  of  much  and  varied 
adventure.     As  usual,  their  voyage  up  the  river 
was  by  sloop.     Arriving  at  Albany,  we  soon 
track  them  to  Saratoga  and  Ballston,  whence 
they  make  a  flying  visit  to  Utica,  then  in  the 
wilderness.    Then  we  see  them,  in  wagons,  strug- 
gling through  thick  woods,  and  muddy  roads,  and 
blackened  stumps,  and  fallen  trees.    Matters  wax 
worse  and  worse.    The  travelers  are  now  out 
walking  in  the  mud  ;  then,  launched  in  a  scow 
on  Beach  River,  they  are  overwhelmed  with 
torrents  of  rain  ;  then,  going  ashore,  they  lodge 
in  a  log-hut  on  beds  spread  upon  the  floor.     In 
the  morning  they  are  off  again  upon  the  muddy 
stream  ;  anon,  in  wagons,  once  more  blunder- 
ing amid  stumps  and  roots  ;  again  stuck  fast, 
and  the  whole  party  taking  to  their  feet,  the 
rain  meanwhile  descending  in  torrents,  young 
Irving  frequently  up  to  his  "middle  in  mud 
and  water."    Amid  the  woods  and  mud  and 


26          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

rain  they  seek  to  shelter  the  ladies  in  a  little 
bark  shed  of  capacity  sufficient  to  hold  three ; 
but  half  of  it  falls  dpwn  as  they  attempt  to 
creep  under  it,  and  the  rain  falls  in  floods,  falls 
as  they  never  have  seen  it  fall  before  ;  the  wind 
blows  a  hurricane ;  the  trees  shake,  and  bend, 
and  crack,  and  threaten  every  moment  to  fall 
and  crush  the  frightened  company.  They  flee 
as  from  destruction,  dragging  themselves  along 
with  painful  difficulty,  until  they  again  reach  a 
hut,  their  only  lodging-place.  Suffice  it  to  add, 
that  after  other  similar  and  hideous  mishaps,  to 
their  great  joy  they  came  in  sight  of  Oswc- 
gatchic,  whose  present  name  is  Ogdcnsburg. 

Fifty  years  afterward,  and  when  Irving  was 
seventy  years  of  age,  he  went  and  looked  again 
upon  this  interesting  locality.  There  for  a  long 
time  he  sat,  his  thoughts  running  back  through 
the  long  vista  of  departed  years,  and  lighting 
upon  the  happy  beings  who,  fifty  years  before, 
were  with  him  there.  Every  one  of  them  was 
now  passed  away,  and  himself  was  the  sole  sur- 
vivor of  all  that  joyous  company.  Quietly  and 
safely  at  home  they  had  lived — at  home  they 
had  died  while  he  still  lived,  though  amid  these 
intervening  years  he  had  traversed  seas,  and 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  27 

wandered  over  distant  lands,  and  encountered 
so  many  dangers  and  hardships.  It  seemed 
wonderful  to  him  as  he  sat  there  pensive  and 
lonely,  and  doubtless  he  wept  amid  those  inter- 
esting and  somber  memories.  And  why,  in 
such  a  connection,  must  there  be  no  recogni- 
tion of  that  kind  and  favoring  Providence  that 
had  accompanied  him,  and  watched  him,  and 
shielded  him  at  every  step  of  his  long  and 
various  wanderings  ?  There  sat  that  man  of 
seventy  years.  A  long  and  prosperous  life  had 
been  his.  His  name  had  become  world-re- 
nowned, his  fame  world-wide.  Few  mortals 
had  been  so  extensively  honored,  loved,  and 
caressed  as  he.  Every  circumstance  was 
adapted  to  point  him  to  the  divine  hand. 
How  graceful  would  have  been  an  ascription  of 
praise  !  and  how  graceful,  too,  as  well  as  taste- 
ful, would  have  been  its  public  record  ! 


28          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AT  twenty-one  years  of  age  Washington 
Irving  was  a  young  gentleman  of  more 
than  ordinary  interest.     His  portrait  of  about 
this  period  of  his  life,  while  a  slightly  boyish  as- 
pect seems  still  to  linger  with  him,  presents  a 
countenance  singularly  well-formed  and  comely. 
His  forehead  was  full,  high,  expansive,  and  par- 
tially and  gracefully  shaded  by  flowing  locks  of 
hair  carelessly  curling  around  it ;  his  calm  and 
expressive  eyes  were  overarched  by  eyebrows 
of  perfect  regularity  ;  his  nose  nearly  straight, 
and  formed  with  classic  and  faultless  graceful- 
ness ;  his  mouth  rather  small,  with  lips  full,  and 
slightly  elevated  at  their  extremities,  and  thus 
hinting  at  that  rich  vein  of  humor  for  which  he 
was  so  remarkable ;  chin  long,  yet  finely  turned ; 
the  head  lofty,  and  clothed  with  abundant  hair 
carelessly  worn  ;  the  entire  tout  ensemble  con- 
veying to  us  the  impression  that  this  must  have 
been  a  youth  of  rare  personal  beauty  and  at- 
trqctiveness. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          29 

Harmonious  with  his  fine  personal  appear- 
ance were  his  mental  accomplishments,  and  the 
kindly  and  genial  elements  of  his  social  char- 
acter. His  talents  as  a  writer  had  already  be- 
gan to  be  apparent,  while  his  conversational 
powers  were  similar  to  what  he  ascribed  to  one 
of  his  brothers,  being  characterized  by  "rich, 
mellow  humor,  range  of  anecdote,  quick  sensi- 
bility, and  fine  colloquial  flow." 

No  wonder  that  such  a  youth  was  the  idol 
of  the  family  circle,  or  that  he  began  to  attract 
the  attention  and  interest  of  a  constantly  widen- 
ing circle  of  friends.  But,  alas  !  this  beautiful 
youth  came  up  to  his  majority  smitten  with 
disease.  His  consumptive  tendencies  have  al- 
ready been  alluded  to,  and  evident  alarm  on  his 
account  was  now  beginning  to  be  felt  by  his 
numerous  friends,  and  especially  those  of  his 
own  father's  family.  How  could  such  a  son 
and  brother  as  this  be  given  up  to  disease,  de- 
cline, and  death !  Must  such  a  star  of  beauty 
set  so  soon  ?  and  shall  a  luminary  rising  so 
brilliantly  be  quenched  in  quick  and  cold 
eclipse  ?  It  must  not  be.  This  child  of  prom- 
ise must  be  rescued  from  the  destroyer,  and  for 
a  boon  so  precious  as  his  health  and  life  he 


3O          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

5 

must  be  given  up  for  a  season  and  sent  abroad 
to  a  foreign  land.  "  It  is  with  delight,"  wrote 
his  eldest  brother  to  him  after  his  departure  for 
Europe,  "  that  we  share  the  world  with  you  ; 
and  one  of  our  greatest  sources  of  happiness  is 
that  fortune  is  daily  putting  it  in  our  power 
thus  to  add  to  the  comfort  and  enjoyment  of 
one  so  very  near  to  us  all."  No  wonder  that 
he  was  "  heavy-hearted  "  as  he  sailed  away,  and 
as  he  saw  the  spires  of  the  city  sink  from  his- 
view.  That  day  was  melancholy  and  lonesome, 
and  as  at  night  he  turned  into  his  berth  he 
was  sick  at  heart. 

Such  is  sometimes  the  "  low  estate  "  befalling 
frail  and  helpless  man — abroad  upon  the  dark 
and  heaving  ocean,  reclining  that  night  in  his 
lowly  berth,  an  invalid  youth — his  life  hanging 
as  if  by  a  thread — wafted  each  moment  farther 
from  the  friends  and  home  he  loves,  bound  to  a 
land  of  strangers,  unknown,  unheeded,  sick, 
faint,  and  sad.  Will  he  ever  rally  ?  and  will 
brighter  and  more  prosperous  days  ever  rise  on 
his  vision  to  gladden  his  sinking,  sorrowing 
heart  ? 

But  Irving's  characteristic  elasticity  pre- 
vailed, and,  giving  thanks  to  the  "  fountain  of 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  3 1 

health  and  good  spirits,"  he  presently  revived 
from  his  state  of  dullness  and  discouragement — 
arose  above  his  homesickness.  While  antici- 
pating the  classic  and  pleasant  scenes  he  was 
about  to  enjoy  in  a  foreign  land,  he  went  on  his 
way  with  cheerful  and  joyful  steps. 

After  a  pleasant  voyage,  with  mild  and  gen- 
tle weather,  and  but  a  few  hours  of  seasickness, 
our  traveler  arrived  at  Bordeaux;  and  as  he 
contemplated  the  buildings,  ancient  churches, 
and  the  manners  of  the  people,  he  seemed  to 
himself  to  have  come  to  another  world. 


32          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IRVING  remained  several  weck»  at  Bor- 
deaux, improving  himself  in  the  French 
language.  Here  also  he  commenced  a  copious 
journal,  noting  down  in  pencil  marks  whatever 
interested  him,  designing  to  expand  and  perfect 
them  in  his  intervals  of  leisure. 

His  journey  from  Bordeaux  to  Paris  was 
quite  circuitous,  and  somewhat  eventful.  He 
starts  off  in  the  old,  cumbersome  French  "  dili- 
gence," and  the  route  is  up  along  the  banks  of 
the  Garonne.  Among  his  fellow-travelers  is  a 
"  little  doctor,"  an  American,  brimful  of  anima- 
tion, and  overflowing  with  good  nature  and  talk, 
knowing  every  thing,  and  with  whom  embassa- 
dors,  consuls,  etc.,  were  intimate  acquaintances. 
This  new  acquaintance,  being  an  experienced 
traveler,  proved  to  be  frequently  useful  to  Irv- 
ing, as  well  as  "  a  continual  fund  of  amusement," 
and  on  parting  with  him  at  Meze,  he  at  once 
began  to  realize  the  loss  thus  sustained.  With 
much  pleasure,  however,  he  encounters  the 


Memoir  of,  Washington  Irving.  33 

"little  doctor"  again  at  Montpelier,  and  re- 
marks :  "  I  shall  travel  in  company  with  him, 
and  by  that  means  be  protected  from  extortion. 
I  find  he  is  a  more  important  character  than  I 
at  first  supposed." 

From  Marseilles  the  two  travelers  journeyed 
on  together  to  Nice,  where,  after  a  miserable 
"  red-tape "  detention  of  five  weeks,  Irving 
sailed  to  Genoa.  Here  he  saluted  with  great 
delight  an  old  acquaintance  and  friend  from 
New  York.  "  You,"  he  writes  to  a  friend  at 
home,  "  who  have  never  been  from  home  in  a  . 
land  of  strangers  and  for  some  time  without 
friends,  cannot  conceive  the  joy,  the  rapture  of 
meeting  with  a  favorite  companion  in  a  distant 
part  of  the  world." 

Genoa  proved  to  Irving  a  sunny  and  delight- 
ful haven,  and  especially  after. so  many  difficul- 
ties and  detentions  in  reaching  it.  Here  he 
seems  to  have  gained  access  to  the  most  ele- 
vated and  refined  society,  contracted  many 
valuable  friendships,  and,  as  may  be  reasonably 
supposed,  was  a  special  favorite  among  the 
more  gay  and  fashionable  circles  of  that  re- 
nowned city.  Weeks  and  months  he  lingered 

amid  these  pleasant  associations,  and  expresses 
3 


34          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

himself  as  so  far  from  being  weary,  that  he 
every  day  became  more  and  more  delighted 
with  his  sojourn  there.  Meantime  "  health,"  he 
writes,  "has  new-strung  my  limbs,  and  en- 
dowed me  with  an  elasticity  of  spirits  that  gilds 
every  scene  with  sunshine,  and  heightens  every 
enjoyment."  * 

Irving  now  embarked  for  Sicily,  leaving 
"  sweet  Genoa  and  all  its  friendly  inhabitants 
behind"  him.  Arriving,  he  visited  several  of 
the  principal  cities  of  that  famous  island. 
Touching  at  Messina,  he  sailed  to  Syracuse, 
and  having,  among  other  curious  objects,  visited 
the  famous  "  Ear  of  Dionysius  the  Tyrant/'  he 
journeyed  north  to  Catania,  and  ascended 
Mount  Etna  as  far  as  his  guide  would  accom- 
pany him.  Thence,  by  a  dismal  journey  across 
the  island,  he  visited  Palermo,  and  then  em- 
barked for  Naples.  Arriving  there,  he  found, 

*  A  singular  faculty  this  young  gentleman  must  certainly 
have  possessed  of  introducing  himself  into  the  higher  circles 
of  society  wherever  he  travels.  That  this  should  have  been 
altogether  facile  and  natural  after  he  had  become  famous  in 
authorship  is  easy  to  perceive  ;  but  how,  as  an  unknown  and 
untitled  young  stranger,  he  secured  such  an  advantage  is  more 
mysterious.  He  seems  from  the  very  outset  to  have  walked 
up  among  the  nobles  of  every  land  he  visits  as  if  he  were  one 
of  them  and  "to  the  manor  born.'* 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  35 

to  his  great  delight,  an  abundance  of  letters 
from  home.  Some  interesting  friends  also 
greeted  him  here,  with  a  party  of  whom  he 
made  a  night  visit  to  Vesuvius,  at  that  time  in 
a  state  of  eruption,  and  came  near  being  over- 
whelmed with  "  dense  torrents  of  the  most  nox- 
ious smoke.0  The  crowd  and  bustle  of  Naples 
was  not  to  the  taste  of  our  traveler,  and  he 
gladly  bade  it  adieu  that  he  might  "repose 
himself  in  the  silent  retreats  of  Rome."  Here, 
also,  he  found  several  of  his  countrymen,  among 
whom  was  Washington  Allston,  the  artist, 

Allston  was  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  born 
in  1779.  He  was  a  slender  child,  and  his  parents 
were  advised  to  send  him  North  to  enjoy  its 
more  bracing  airs.  He  was,  accordingly  sent  to 
Newport,  R.  I.,  at  seven  years  of  age,  and  placed 
at  school,  where  he  continued  for  ten  years. 
He  early  evinced  a  genius  for  painting,  receiving 
some  aid  and  encouragement  from  a  Mr.  King, 
who  had  enjoyed  a  partial  artistic  education.  A 
more  important  acquaintance  formed  by  young 
Allston  was  Edward  Malbone,  a  native  of  New- 
port, who  evinced  much  promise  as  a  miniature 
painter.  These  two  youths  seemed  to  have 
formed  a  mutual  friendship ;  and  Malbone  after- 


36          Meirioir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ward   residing  in    Boston  while   Allston   was 
in  college  at  Harvard,  their  intimacy  was  con- 
tinued through  a  series  of  years.     From  Mai- 
bone  Allston  derived  much  advantage  in  his 
earlier  efforts  as   an   artist.     His  leisure  was 
occupied  with  sketches,  copying,  and  drawing  ; 
and,  though  having  but  few  helps,  he  soon  at- 
tained a  wonderful  degree  of  knowledge  in  the 
higher  elements  of  the  painting  art.     On  his 
graduation  he  returned   to    his   home    in   the 
South,    where   he    found    his    friend   Malbone 
occupied   with    the  practice   of  his  art ;    and, 
shortly  afterward,  the  two  friends  embarked  for 
London  with  a  view  of  improving  themselves  in 
art  studies.     Allston  at  once  entered  the  Royal 
Academy  as  a  student,  and  became  intimate 
with  the  artist,  Benjamin  West.     Here  he  de- 
voted himself  for  several  years,  and  with  great 
diligence  and  success,  to  artistic  studies.     It 
was  here  that  Irving  and  Allston  first  met,  and 
became  attached  to  each  other  in  warm  and 
life-long  friendship.     Allston  was  three  or  four 
years  the  senior  of  Irving,  and  the  latter  de- 
scribes his  friend  as  being  peculiarly  agreeable 
— having  a  form  light  and  graceful,  large  blue 
eyes,   black  silken  hair,  "waving  and  curling 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  37 

around  a  pale,  expressive  countenance."  He 
adds  that  every  thing  about  him  bespoke  the 
man  of  intellect  and  refinement.  His  conversa- 
tion was  copious,  animated,  and  highly  graphic, 
warmed  by  a  genial  sensibility  and  benevolence, 
and  enlivened  by  a  chaste  and  gentle  humor.* 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  Irving's  intimate  asso- 
ciation with  Allston,  joined  with  the  beautiful 
Italian  scenery,  pictures,  statuary,  fountains,  and 
gardens,  had  at  this  time  well-nigh  influenced 
him  to  turn  his  attention  to  painting,  and,  like 
his  friend,  devote  himself  to  it  as  a  life  pursuit 
But  a  wise  Providence  seems  to  have  overruled 
this  arrangement  that  he  might  become  a  mas- 
ter in  a  different  department  of  the  world  of  art. 
"  My  lot  in  life,"  said  he,  "  was  differently  cast. 
Doubts  and  fears  gradually  clouded  over  my 
prospect ;  the  rainbow  tints  faded  away ;  I  began 
to  apprehend  a  sterile  reality ;  so  I  gave  up  the 

i 

*  Allston  subsequently  spent  several  years  in  Italy — returned 
home  in  1809,  married  a  sister  of  Dr.  Channing,  and  returned 
to  London,  where  he  resided  for  a  term  of  years  and  executed 
many  paintings  of  distinguished  excellence.  Returning  to  the 
United  States  in  i  Si  8,  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
Boston  and  Cambridge  in  slender  health,  yet  exercising  as 
he  was  able  his  cherished  art.  His  principal  work,  however, 
"  Belshazzar'a  Feast,"  he  left  unfinished,  and  died  in  1848  at 
the  age  of  f  ixty-four. 


38          Memoir  of  Washington  Truing. 

transient  but  delightful  prospect  of  remaining 
in  Rome  with  Allston  and  turning  painter." 

Before  leaving   Rome  Irving  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Madame  de  Stael,  whom  he  de- 
scribes as  a  woman  of  great  strength  of  mind 
and  understanding,  and  was  "  astounded  at  the 
amazing  flow  of  her  conversation."     This  dis- 
tinguished lady  was  a  native  of  Paris,  born  in 
1766,  and  was,  consequently,  not  quite  forty 
years  old  when  Irving  became  acquainted  with 
her  at  Rome.      Her  father,  Baron  de  Necker, 
was  a  wealthy  Swiss  banker,  whom  she  loved 
almost  to  idolatry.     She  was  well  educated,  and, 
being  early  thrown  into  the  society  of  distin- 
guished persons,  she  soon  acquired  the  art  of 
brilliant  conversation  which  was  so  impressive 
and   surprising  to   Irving,  and  for  which   she 
was  excelled  by  no  lady  of  her  time.     She  early 
became   an    authoress,  and  when   twenty-two 
years  of  age  appeared  her  first  work,  "  Letters 
on  the  Works   and   Character  of  Rousseau ;" 
which  was  highly  eulogistic  of  that  celebrated 
person.     It  was  not  till  a  year  or  two  after  Irv- 
ing's  interview  with  her  that  she  published  the 
work  on  which  her  literary  reputation  mainly 
rests.    This  was  her  "  Corinne,"  a  work  having 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  39 

some  marked  faults,  yet  full  of  elegant  descrip- 
tions of  the  scenery,  manners,  and  art  of  the 
classic  land  of  Italy.  This  work  was  at  once 
immensely  popular,  and  was  soon  translated 
into  all  the  European  languages,  and  won  for 
the  fair  authoress  a  wide-spread  reputation.* 

Mr.  Irving  now  left  Rome  on  his  route  to 
Paris,  and  reached  that  city  after  a  journey 
occupying  about  six  weeks.  Here  he  continued 
four  months  ;  and  from  a  few  entries  in  his 
journal  we  may  infer  that  while  he  professed  to 
his  brother  a  desire  to  profit  by  the  literary 
and  scientific  advantages  presented  to  him 
there,  he  was  fully  as  earnest  after  lighter  pur- 

*  Many  other  works  came  from  the  graceful  and  facile  pen 
of  Madame  de  Stacl,  and  her  fame  and  influence  became  very 
extensive.  For  a  time  she  favored  the  French  Revolution  ; 
but  as  it  progressed,  and  more  and  more  developed  its  cruel  and 
bloody  character,  her  womanly  nature  revolted  against  it. 
She  was  horror-struck  at  the  murder  of  the  King  and  Queen. 
As  Napoleon  arose -into  power  she  was  his  inveterate  opposcr. 
He  attempted  to  gain  her  over  to  his  cause  ;  but  failing,  and 
dreading  her  influence,  he  banished  her  from  France.  During 
her  exile  she  traveled  over  many  of  the  countries  of  Europe, 
and  her  pen,  meanwhile,  was  active.  On  the  fall  of  Bona- 
parte she  returned  to  Paris,  and  died  there  in  1817.  She 
was  twice  married  ;  first,  to  Baron  de  Stael  Holstein,  Swedish 
Minister  to  the  French  Court ;  and  afterward,  secretly,  to 
M.  de  Rocca,  a  French  officer.  She  was  the  mother  of  four 
children. 


4O          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

suits.  The  theater,  opera,  and  the  dance 
were  amusements  to  which  he  was  evidently 
much  devoted.  His  journalistic  pencilings 
grew  increasingly  meager  and  unsatisfactory, 
and  finally  ceased  entirely;  while  the  im- 
pressions of  Paris  upon  his  youthful  and 
ardent  mind  seem  to  have  been  as  vivid  as 
they  were  fascinating  and  beautiful.  For 
"  pleasure  and  amusements  "  it  was  a  place  the 
most  favorable  and  attractive  in  the  world. 
Climate,  theaters,  operas,  walks,  "  people,  per- 
fect liberty  of  private  conduct,"  all  were  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  pleasure  and  gayety.  Ay, 
and  admirably  adapted  too,  we  fear,  to  beguile 
young  men  away  from  correct  principles,  and 
from  lives  of  respectability  and  virtue. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          41 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  FTER  four  months'  residence  in  Paris, 
*\  where  he  had  improved  himself  very  con- 
siderably in  his  knowledge  of  the  French  lan- 
guage, and  had  become  partially  satiated  with 
the  endless  round  of  amusements  so  bountifully 
afforded  by  that  dissipated  metropolis,  Irving, 
in  company  with  two  American  friends,  de- 
parted, for  London.  Their  route  lay  through 
Brussels  and  Maastricht  to  Rotterdam,  they 
pausing  a  day  or  two  at  each  of  these  cities, 
and  contemplating  with  deep  interest  the  pro- 
digious contrast  between  the  Frenchman  and 
the  Hollander  in  appearance,  houses,  manners, 
language,  and  tastes. 

From  Rotterdam  they  came  by  packet  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Thames,  whence,  by  post-chaise, 
they  passed  up  to  London.  Our  traveler  at 
once  adapted  his  dress  to  his  new  situation, 
secured  eligible  and  comfortably  furnished 
lodgings  partially  retired  from  the  bustle  and 

confusion  of  the  city,  yet  near  many  desirable 


42          Memoir  of  Washington  rrving. 

places  of  resort,  among  which  the  theaters  are 
carefully  included.  Thus  the  theater  is  still 
prominent  in  the  affections  and  plans  of  this 
youth,  and  his  lexers  to  one  and  another  give 
full  evidence  of  his  absorbing  interest  in  this 
class  of  amusements.  He  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  performers,  their  appearance, 
action,  and  general  manners,  entering  into 
somewhat  minute  descriptions  of  them,  and 
presenting  various  criticisms,  and  such  as  be- 
tray his  devotion  to  theatrical  amusements. 

It  was  now  that  Irving  saw  and  heard  for 
the  first  time  the  famous  Mrs.  Siddons,  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  actresses  of  that  day. 
Here  he  is  full  and  overflowing  with  enthusi- 
asm. He  fears  to  give  expression  to  all  his 
emotions.  She  is  a  wonderful  woman.  Her 
looks,  voice,  gestures,  all  go  directly  to  his 
heart,  which  is  frozen  and  melted  by  turns,  and 
his  frame  is  thrilled  through  and  through,  even 
with  a  single  glance  or  gesture.  He  admires 
.  her  the  more  the  more  he  sees  her ;  he  hardly 
breathes  when  she  is  upon  the  stage,  and  she 
overwhelms  him  till  he  is  a  mere  child.* 

*  Mrs.  Siddons  was  of  a  distinguished  family  of  actors.    She 
was  daughter  of  Roger  Kemble,  was  born  in  Wales  in  1755, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  43 

Mr.  Irving  seems  to  have  made  compara- 
tively few  acquaintances  in  London  ;  and,  hav- 
ing made  a  brief  excursion  to  Oxford,  Bath,  and 
Bristol,  he,  after  a  sojourn  of  three  months  in 
the  land  of  his  forefathers,  embarked  at  Graves- 
end  for  New  York,  where  he  arrived  after  an 
absence  of  twenty-two  months.  He  returned 
home  with  restored  health  and  in  excellent 
spirits,  and  resumed,  after  his  manner,  the 
study  of  law. 

From  the  picture  c>f  Washington  Irving's  life 
and  habits  about  this  time,  as  drawn  by  him- 
self, he  seems  to  have  been  a  somewhat  "  fast 
young  man,"  and,  in  association  with  several 

and  was  bred  to  the  stage.  She  was  at  eighteen  years  of  age 
married  to  a  young  actor,  Mr.  Siddons,  and  for  thirty  years 
was  quton  of  the  stage.  Irving's  description  of  her  power 
accords  with  all  reports  of  her  wonderful  acting.  "  She  ap- 
peared," says  Ho/utt,  "  to  belong  to  a  superior  order  of 
beings  —  to  be  surrounded  with  a  personal  awe  like  some 
prophetess  of  old."  "  It  was  in  bursts  of  indignation  or 
grief,  in  sudden  exclamations,  in  apostrophes  and  inarticulate 
sounds,  that  she  raised  the  soul  of  passion  to  its  height  or 
sunk  it  in  despair." 

It  is  said  that  so  complete  was  her  stage  abstraction  that 
the  very  actors  performing  with  her  have  been  known  to 
shrink  with  terror  from  her  fierce  disdain  or  withering  scorn. 
She  was  greatly  esteemed  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  She 
died  in  London  in  1831,  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  the  same 
age  of  Irving's  decease. 


44          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

other  cheerful  and  jovial  spirits,  indulged  him- 
self now  and  then  in  gayeties  and  convivialities 
hardly  consistent  with  a  genuine  circumspec- 
tion and  sobriety  of  conduct.  In  November 
following  his  return  from  Europe,  and  at  twen- 
ty-three years  of  age,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  though  sadly  deficient  in  legal  lore."  But 
he  seems  never  to  have  entered  on  the  practice 
of  the  profession,  and,  within  a  month  or  two 
after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  he,  in  connection 
with  his  brother  William  and  James  K.  Pauld- 
ing,  projected  a  periodical  publication,  to  be 
entitled  Salmagundi.  This  paper  seems  to 
have  been  issued  once  in  two  or  three  weeks, 
comprised  twenty  numbers,  and  continued  to 
be  issued  through  one  year.  Irving  and  Pauld- 
ing  appear  to  have  shared  about  equally  in  the 
making  up  of  the  paper,  the  part  of  William 
Irving  in  the  enterprise  being  somewhat  sub- 
ordinate. The  writers  appeared  under  fictitious 
names,  and  the  compositions  were  characterized 
by  wit,  drollery,  and  satire,  while  the  sensation 
among  New  York  circles,  produced  by  the  sev- 
eral issues,  was  said  to  be  intense,  and  its  suc- 
cess was  decided.  Why  it  was  so  soon  and 
suddenly  discontinued,  and  the  enterprise 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  4$ 

abandoned,  is  not  very  apparent,  while  its  early 
death  seems  not  to  have  been  in  accordance 
with  the  wishes  and  plans  of  Irving.  The  work 
has,  by  able  critics,  been  pronounced  a  produc- 
tion of  more  than  ordinary  merit,  and  one 
writer  represents  it  as  the  literary  parent  not 
only  of  the  Sketch  Book  and  the  Alhambra, 
but  of  all  the  intermediate  and  subsequent  pro- 
ductions of  Irving.  Mr.  Irving  himself,  how- 
ever, failed  to  acquiesce  in  these  and  similar 
sentiments  touching  this  literary  effort  of  his 
youth,  and  in  his  maturer  years  valued  himself 
but  slightly  for  his  share  in  it.  "  The  work/' 
he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  was  pardonable  as  a  ju- 
venile production  ;  but  it  is  full  of  errors,  puer- 
ilities, and  imperfections,  and  I  was  in  hopes  it 
would  gradually  have  gone  down  to  oblivion." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

BUT  a  specimen  or  two  of  Salmagundi  we 
must  endeavor  to  rescue  from  immediate 
"  oblivion/'  if  only  to  present  a  slight  picture  of 
Irving  when  his  pen  was  wielded  by  him  in  the 
freshness  of  his  youth. 

"Anthony  Green,  Gent.,"  is  one  of  Irving's 
assumed  names  in  these  compositions,  and  An- 
thony thus  dresses  up  Will  Wizard  for  attend- 
ance *,t  a  ball : 

"  On  calling  for  Will  in  the  evening  I  found 
him  full  dressed,  waiting  for  me.  I  contem- 
plated him  with  absolute  dismay.  As  he  still 
retained  a  spark  of  regard  for  the  lady  who 
once  reigned  in  his  affections,  he  had  been  at 
unusual  pains  in  decorating  his  person,  and 
broke  upon  my  sight  arrayed  in  the  true  style 
that  prevailed  among  our  beaux  some  years 
ago.  His  hair  was  turned  up  and  tufted  at  the 
top,  frizzled  out  at  the  ears,  a  profusion  of  pow- 
der puffed  over  the  whole,  and  a  long  plaited 
club  swung  gracefully  from  shoulder  to  shoul- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          47 

dor,  describing  a  pleasing  semicircle  of  powder 
and  pomatum.  His  claret-colored  coat  was 
decorated  with  a  profusion  of  gilt  buttons,  and 
reached  to  his  calves.  His  white  kerseymere 
small-clothes  were  so  tight  that  he  seemed  to 
have  grown  up  in  them  ;  and  his  ponderous 
legs,  which  are  the  thickest  part  of  his  body, 
were  beautifully  clothed  in  sky-blue  silk  stock- 
ings, once  considered  so  becoming  ;  but,  above 
ail,  he  prided  himself  upon  his  waistcoat  of 
China  silk,  which  might  almost  have  served  a 
good  housewife  for  a  short  gown ;  and  he 
boasted  that  the  roses  and  tulips  upon  it  were 
the  work  of  Hang-Fou,  daughter  of  the  great 
Chin-Chin-Fou,  who  had  fallen  in  love  with  the 
graces  of  his  person,  and  sent  it  to  him  as  a 
parting  present/' 

"  Will  Wizard's  "  dancing  is  pictured  thus  : 
"The  music  struck  up  from  an  adjoining  apart- 
ment, and  summoned  the  company  to  the  dance. 
The  sound  seemed  to  have  an  inspiring  effect 
on  honest  Will,  and  he  procured  the  hand  of 
an  old  acquaintance  for  a  country  dance.  It 
happened  to  be  the  fashionable  one  of  "  The 
Devil  among  the  Tailors/'  which  is  so  vocifer- 
ously demanded  at  every  ball  and  assembly ; 


48  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

and  many  a  torn  garment  and  many  an  unfor- 
tunate toe  did  rue  the  dancing  of  that  night, 
for  Will  thundered  down  the  dance  like  a  coach 
and  six,  sometimes  right,  sometimes  wrong; 
now  running  over  half  a  score  of  little  French- 
men, and  now  making  sad  inroads  into  the 
ladies'  cobweb  muslins  and  spangled  tails.  As 
every  part  of  Will's  body  partook  of  the  exer- 
tion, he  shook  from  his  capacious  head  such 
volumes  of  powder  that,  like  pious  yEneas  on  the 
first  interview  of  Queen  Dido,  he  might  be  said 
to  have  been  enveloped  in  a  cloud.  Nor  was 
Will's  partner  an  insignificant  figure  in  the 
scene  ;  she  was  a  young  lady  of  most  volumin- 
ous proportions  that  quivered  at  every  skip, 
and,  being  braced  up  in  the  fashionable  style 
with  whalebone,  stay-tape,  and  buckram,  looked 
like  an  apple-pudding  tied  in  the  middle ;  or, 
taking  her  flaming  dress  into  consideration,  like 
a  bed  and  bolsters  rolled  up  in  a  suit  of  red 
curtains." 

We  add  one  or  two  extracts  from  the  descrip- 
tion of  "  Charity  Cockloft  :^' 

"  My  Aunt  Charity  departed  this  life  in  the 
fifty-ninth  year  of  her  age,  though  she  never 
grew  older  after  twenty-five.  In  her  teens  she 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          49 
i 
was,  according  to  her  own  account,  a  celebrated 

beauty,  though  I  never  could  meet  with  any 
body  that  remembered  when  she  was  handsome. 
On  the  contrary,  Evergreen's  father,  who  used  to 
gallant  her  in  his  youth,  says  she  was  as  knotty 
a  little  piece  of  humanity  as  he  ever  saw ;  and 
that,  if  she  had  been  possessed  of  the  least 
sensibility,  she  would,  like  poor  old  Acco,  have 
most  certainly  run  mad  at  her  own  figure  and 
face  the  first  time  she  contemplated  herself  in 
a  looking-glass. 

"  It  is  rather  singular  that  my  aunt,  though  a 
great  beauty,  and  an  heiress  withal,  never  got 
married.  .  The  reason  she  alleged  was  that  she 
never  met  with  a  lover  who  resembled  Sir 
Charles  Grandison,  the  hero  of  her  nightly 
dreams  and  waking  fancy ;  but  I  am  privately 
of  opinion  that  it  was  owing  to  her  never  having 
had  an  offer.  This  much  is  certain,  that  for 
many  years  previous  to  her  decease  she  declined 
all  attentions  from  the  gentlemen,  and  contented 
herself  with  watching  over  the  welfare  of  her 
fellow-creatures.  She  was,  indeed,  observed  to 
take  a  considerable  leaning  toward  Methodism, 
was  frequent  in  her  attendance  at  love-feasts, 
read  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  and  even  went  so 


5O          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

far  as  once  to  travel  the  distance  of  five- 
and-twenty  miles  to  be  present  at  a  camp- 
meeting.  This  gave  great  offense  to  my 
Cousin  Christopher  and  his  good  lady,  who,  as 
I  have  already  mentioned,  are  rigidly  orthodox  ; 
and,  had  not  my  Aunt  Charity  been  of  a  most 
pacific  disposition,  her  religious  whim-wham 
would  have  occasioned  many  a  family  alter- 
cation. 

"  But  the  truth  must  be  told  ;  with  all  her 
good  qualities  my  Aunt  Charity  was  afflicted 
with  one  fault,  extremely  rare  among  her  gentle 
sex — it  was  curiosity.  How  she  came  by  it  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  imagine  ;  but  it  played  the  very 
vengeance  with  her,  and  destroyed  the  comfort 
of  her  life.  Having  an  invincible  desire  to 
know  everybody's  character,  business,  and  mode 
of  living,  she  was  forever  prying  into  the  affairs 
of  her  neighbors,  and  got  a  great  deal  of  ill- 
will  from  people  toward  whom  she  had  the 
kindest  disposition  possible.  If  any  family  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  street  gave  a  dinner, 
my  aunt  would  mount  her  spectacles  and  sit 
at  the  window  until  the  company  were  all 
housed,  merely  that  she  might  know  who  they 
were.  If  she  heard  a  story  about  any  of  her 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  5 1 

acquaintance  she  would  forthwith  set  off  full 
sail,  and  never  rest  until,  to  use  her  usual 
expression,  she  had  got  "  to  the  bottom  of  it," 
which  meant  nothing  more  than  telling  it  to 
every  body  she  knew. 


52          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  Vir. 

SHORTLY  after  the  Salmagundi  papers 
ceased  to  be  issued,  a  literary  work  of 
greater  pretensions,  and  destined  to  a  far 
greater  fame,  began  to  employ  the  pen  of  Irv- 
ing. The  conception  was  that  of  a  burlesque 
and  humorous  history  of  New  York,  and  in 
the  commencement  of  the  composition  his 
brother  Peter  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
enterprise.  Circumstances,  however,  rendering 
it  inconvenient  for  his  brother  to  continue  his 
assistance,  the  entire  preparation  of  the  work 
devolved  upon  Washington,  who  brought  it  to  a 
conclusion,  and  gave  it  to  the  publisher  in  the 
fall  of  1809,  and  when  its  author  was  twenty- 
six  years  of  age. 

This  remarkable  book,  like  all  the  subse- 
quent works  of  Irving,  is  too  well  known  to  need 
a  word  of  remark  or  criticism  here.  A  contem- 
poraneous and  able  notice  of  the  work  pro- 
nounced it  the  wittiest  that  had  ever  been  issued 
from  the  American  press.  Of  course  it  was  a 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  53 

positive  success,  and  its  author  at  once  became 
famous. 

The  "  History  "  purported  to  be  the  work  of  a 
little  dried  up,  quaint,  and  mysterious  old  gen- 
tleman—Diedrich  Knickerbocker  by  name.  He 
was  dressed  in  an  old  shabby  black  coat  and 
cocked  hat,  a  pair  of  olive  velvet  breeches,  with 
silver  shoe-buckles,  and  was  set  down  by  his 
landlady  as  a  country  school-master.  He  had 
been  a  lodger,  as  it  was  further  purported,  at 
the  "  Columbian  Hotel,  Mulberry-street,  New 
York,"  and,  suddenly  disappearing,  had  left 
behind  him  in  his  room,  however,  the  manu- 
script of  the  famous  "  History,"  which  was 
represented  as  being  published  to  defray  the 
expense  of  his  hotel  lodgings. 

The  work  abounds  in  humor  and  drollery  from 
beginning  to  end,  and  in  this  respect  is  excelled 
by  few  if  any  works  of  a  similar  character  and 
aim  that  were  ever  published.  Blackwood's 
Magazine,  noticing  the  book  several  years  after 
its  first  appearance,  affirmed  that  the  matter  of 
the  work  would  preserve  its  character  of  value 
long  after  the  lapse  of  time  had  blunted  the 
edge  of  the  personal  allusions,  and  that  its  author 
was  "  by  far  the  greatest  genius  which  had  ap- 


54          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  , 

peared  upon  the  literary  horizon  of  the  New 
World ! "  Edward  Everett,  in  the  North  Ameri- 
can Review,  pronounced  it  "  a  book  of  unweary- 
ing pleasantry,  which,  instead  of  flashing  out,  as 
English  and  American  humor  is  wont,  from  time 
to  time,  with  long  and  dull  intervals,  is  kept  up 
with  a  true  French  vivacity  from  beginning  to 
end."  Sir  Walter  Scott,  receiving  a  copy  of  the 
"  History"  from  a  friend  of  Irving,  in  acknowl- 
edging the  present  adds,  among  other  things, 
"  I  have  been  employed  these  few  evenings  in 
reading  it  aloud  to  Mrs.  Scott,  and  two  other 
ladies  who  are  guests,  and  our  sides  have  been 
absolutely  sore  with  laughing." 

The  style  of  the  work  is  entirely  characteristic, 
and  differs  little  from  that  of  the  author's  subse- 
quent works.  It  is  easy,  simple,  flowery,  spark- 
ling with  vivacity,  brilliant  with  imagery,  and 
not  sparing  in  classical  and  historical  allusions, 
some  of  which  are  of  a  character  that  sets  us 
wondering  where  and  when  this  youth  of  twenty- 
six  years,  and  partially  "  uneducated,"  could 
have  acquired  the  learning  with  which  he  seems 
to  have  been  so  familiar.  The  various  portraits 
of  men  and  mariners  are,  of  course,  of  a  burlesque 
and  exaggerated  character ;  while  yet  they  are 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  55 

valuable  as  affording  us  a  glimpse,  at  least,  of 
the  social  scenery  of  the  good  old  times  of  the 
"  Dutch  Dynasty." 

It  is  a  curious  and  laughable  fact  that  some 
of  the  old  families  of  Dutch  descent  seem  for  a 
time  to  have  taken  this  book  in  high  dudgeon, 
being  deeply  incensed  at  the  caricatures  which 
it  appeared  to  comprise  of  one  and  another  of 
their  venerated  ancestors.  So  profound,  in  one 
instance,  was  this  feeling,  that  Mr.  Irving  being 
at  Albany  soon  after  its  publication,  and  receiv- 
ing many  attentions  and  civilities  there,  one 
lady,  however,  was  of  a  very  different  bearing 
toward  him  and  declared  that  if  she  were  a 
man  she  would  horsewhip  him !  Irving  on 
hearing  of  this  was  greatly  amused,  and  forth- 
with sought  an  introduction  to  the  lady. 
She  received  him  with  great  coldness ;  but 
before  the  interview  ended  she  became  en- 
tirely mollified,  and  the  two  were  excellent 
friends. 

Irving  seems  to  have  realized,  subsequently, 
the  delicate  character  of  the  ground  he  was 
traversing  in  this  famous  "History,"  and  re- 
marked to  a  friend  that  *<  it  was  a  confounded 
impudent  thing  in  such  a  youngster  as  I  wa&  to 


56          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

be  meddling  in  this  way  with  old  family  names ; 
but  I  did  not  dream  of  offense." 

The  truth  seems  to  have  been  that  in  con- 
structing his  work  the  author  rallied  together 
indiscriminately  all  the  old  Dutch  names  that 
he  had  ever  read  or  heard  of,  and  invented  a 
host  of  others  besides  that  were  new  to  every 
one,  and  wove  them  into  his  work  without  the 
slightest  personal  allusion  in  a  single  instance. 
He  doubtless  supposed  that  an  antiquity  of  two 
centuries,  equivalent  to  thrice  that  amount  of 
time  in  old  countries,  would  avail  to  place  his 
several  characters  at  a  distance  too  remote  for 
any  criticism  or  blame  connected  with  such  a 
work  as  his,  arising  from  any  family  pride  of 
ancestry. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          57 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

WE  devote  a  brief  chapter  to  one  or  two 
extracts  from  the  "  History  of  New  York." 
The   following   is   a  description  of  one  of  the 
Dutch  Governors  : 

<l  The  renowned  Wouter  (or  Walter)  Van  Twil- 
ler  was  descended  from  a  long  line  of  Dutch 
burgomasters  who  had  successively  dozed  away 
their  lives  and  grown  fat  upon  the  bench  of 
magistracy  in  Rotterdam,  and  who  had  com- 
ported themselves  with  such  singular  wisdom 
and  propriety  that  they  were  never  either  heard 
or  talked  of;  which,  next  to  being  universally 
applauded,  should  be  the  object  of  ambition  of 
all  magistrates  and  rulers.  There  are  two  oppo- 
site ways  by  which  some  men  make  a  figure  in 
the  world :  one,  by  talking  faster  than  they  think ; 
and  the  other,  by  holding  their  tongues  and  not 
thinking  at  all.  By  the  first,  many  a  smatterer 
acquires  the  reputation  of  a  man  of  quick  parts  ; 
by  the  other,  many  a  dunderpate,  like  the  owl, 
the  stupidest  of  birds,  comes  to  be  considered 


58          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

the  very  type  of  wisdom.    This,  by  the  way,  is 
a  casual  remark,  which  I  would  not  for  the  uni- 
verse have  it  thought  I  apply  to  Governor  Van 
Twiller.    It  is  true  he  was  a  man  shut  up  within 
himself,  like  an  oyster,  and  rarely  spoke  except 
in  monosyllables ;   but  then  it  was  allowed  he 
seldom  said  a  foolish  thing.     So  invincible  was 
'his  gravity  that  he  was  never  known  to  laugh, 
or  even  to  smile,  through  the  whole  course  cf  a 
long  and  prosperous  life.     Nay,  if  a  joke  w*re 
uttered  in  his  presence  that  set  light-minded 
hearers  in  a  roar,  it  was  observed  to  throw  him 
into  a  state  of  perplexity.    Sometimes  he  would 
deign    to  inquire   into   the  matter  and   when, 
after  much  explanation,  the  joke  was  made  as 
plain  as  a  pike-staff,  he  would  continue  to  smoke 
his  pipe  in  silence,  and  at  length,  knocking  out 
the  ashes,  would  exclaim,  '  Well !  I  see  nothing 
in  all  that  to  laugh  about/ 

"  With  all  his  reflective  habits  he  never  made 
up  his  mind  on  a  subject.  His  adherents  ac- 
counted for  this  by  the  astonishing  magnitude 
of  his  ideas.  He  conceived  every  subject  on  so 
grand  a  scale  that  he  had  not  room  in  his  head 
to  turn  it  over  and  examine  both  sides  of  it. 
Certain  it  is  that  if  any  matters  were  propounded 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  59 

to  him  on  which  ordinary  mortals  would  rashly 
determine  at  first  glance,  he  would  put  on  a 
vague,  mysterious  look,  shake  his  capacious  head, 
smoke  some  time  in  profound  silence,  and  at 
length  observe  that  '  he  had  his  doubts  about 
the  matter ; '  which  gained  him  the  reputation 
of  a  man  slow  of  belief  and  not  easily  imposed 
upon.  What  is  more,  it  gained  him  a  lasting 
name ;  for  to  this  habit  of  the  mind  has  been 
attributed  his  surname  of  Twiller,  which  is  said 
to  be  a  corruption  of  the  original  Twijfler,  or,  in 
plain  English,  Doubter. 

"  The  person  of  this  illustrious  old  gentleman 
was  formed  and  proportioned  as  though  it  had 
been  molded  by  the  hands  of  some  cunning 
Dutch  statuary  as  a  model  of  majesty  and 
lordly  grandeur.  He  was  exactly  five  feet  six 
inches  in  height,  and  six  feet  five  inches  in  cir* 
cumference.  His  head  was  a  perfect  sphere, 
and  of  such  stupendous  dimensions  that  Dame 
Nature  with  all  her  sex's  ingenuity,  would  have 
been  puzzled  to  construct  a  neck  capable  of 
supporting  it ;  wherefore  she  wisely  declined 
the  attempt,  and  settled  it  firmly  on  the  top  of 
his  back  bone,  just  between  the  shoulders.  His 
body  was  oblong,  and  particularly  capacious  at 


60          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

bottom,  which  was  wisely  ordered  by  Providence, 
seeing  that  he  was  a  man  of  sedentary  habits, 
and  very  averse  to  the  idle  labor  of  walking. 
His  legs  were  short,  but  sturdy  in  proportion  to 
the  weight  they  had  to  sustain  ;  so  that  when 
erect  he  had  not  a  little  tlie  appearance  of  a  beer 
barrel  on  skids.  His  face,  that  infallible  index 
of  the  mind,  presented  a  vast  expanse,  un- 
furrowed  by  any  of  those  lines  and  angles  which 
disfigure  the  human  countenance  with  what 
is  termed  expression.  Two  small  gray  eyes 
twinkled  feebly  in  the  midst,  like  two  stars  of 
lesser  magnitude  in  a  hazy  firmament ;  and  his 
full-fed  cheeks,  which  seemed  to  have  taken  toll 
of  every  thing  that  went  into  his  mouth,  were 
curiously  mottled  and  streaked  with  dusky  red, 
like  a  Spitzenberg  apple." 

The  successor  of  Walter  the  Doubter  is  thus 
described  : 

"  Wilhelmus  Kieft,  who,  in  1634,  ascended  the 
gubernatorial  chair,  was  of  a  lofty  descent, 
his  father  being  inspector  of  wind-mills  in  the 
ancient  town  of  Saardam  ;  and  our  hero,  we  are 
told,  when  a  boy,  made  very  curious  investiga- 
tions into  the  nature  and  operations  of  these 
machines,  which  was  one  reason  why  he  came 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          6 1 

to  be  Governor.    His  name,  according  to  the  most 
authentic  etymologists,   was   a   corruption   of 
kyver,  that  is  to -say,  a  wrangler  or  scoldcr,  and 
expressed  the  characteristic  of  his  family,  which 
for  nearly  two  centuries  had  kept  the   windy 
town  of  Saardam  in  hot  water,  and  produced 
more  tartars  and  brimstones  than  any  ten  fami- 
lies in  the  place  ;    and  so  truly  did  he  inherit 
this  family  peculiarity  that  he  had  not  been  a 
year  in  the  government  of  the  province  before 
he  was  universally  denominated  William   the 
Testy.     His  appearance  answered  to  his  name. 
He  was  a  brisk,  wiry,  waspish  little  old  gentle- 
man ;  such  a  one  as  may  now  and  then  be  seen 
stamping  about  our  city  in  a  broad-skirted  coat 
with  huge  buttons,  a  cocked  hat  stuck  on  the 
back  of  his  head,  and  a  cane  as  high  as  his 
chin.    His  face  was  broad,  but  his  features  were 
sharp  ;  his  cheeks  were  scorched  into  a  dusky 
red  by  two  fiery  little  gray  eyes  ;  his  nose  turned 
up,  and  the  corners  of  his  mouth  turned  down, 
pretty  much  like  the  muzzle  of  an  irritable  dog/' 
The  well-dressed  lady  of  the  golden  age  of  the 
Dutch  dynasty  is  thus  presented : 

"  A  fine  lady  in  those  times  waddled  under 
more  clothes,  even  on  a  fair  summer's  day,  than 


62          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

would  have  clad  the  whole  bevy  of  a  modern 
ball-room.  Nor  were  they  the  less  admired  by 
the  gentlemen  in  consequence  thereof.  On  the 
contrary,  the  greatness  of  a  lover's  passion 
seemed  to  increase  in  proportion  to  the  magni- 
tude of  its  object ;  and  a  voluminous  damsel, 
arrayed  in  a  dozen  of  petticoats,  was  declared  by 
a  Low  Dutch  sonneteer  of  the  province  to  be  radi- 
ant as  a  sun-flower,  and  luxuriant  as  a  full-blown 
cabbage.  Certain  it  is  that  in  those  days  the 
heart  of  a  lover  could  not  contain  more  than  one 
lady  at  a  time  ;  whereas  the  heart  of  a  modern 
gallant  has  often  room  enough  to  accommodate 
half  a  dozen.  The  reason  of  which  I  conclude 
to  be,  that  either  the  hearts  of  the  gentlemen 
have  grown  larger,  or  the  persons  of  the  ladies 
smaller  ;  this,  however,  is  a  question  for  physi- 
ologists to  determine." 

The  "truly  fashionable  gentleman"  of  those 
days  is  presented  as  follows : 

"  His  dress,  which  served  for  both  morning 
and  evening,  street  and  drawing-room,  was  a 
linsey-woolsey  coat,  made  perhaps  by  the  fair 
hands  of  the  mistress  of  his  affections,  and  gal- 
lantly bedecked  with  abundance  of  large  brass 
buttons ;  half  a  score  of  breeches  heightened  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  63 

proportions  of  his  figure  ;  his  shoes  were  dec- 
orated by  enormous  copper  buckles  ;  a  low- 
crowned,  broad-rimmed  hat  overshadowed  his 
burly  visage,  and  his  hair  dangled  down  his  back 
in  a  prodigious  queue  of  eel-skin. 

"  Thus  equipped,  he  would  manfully  sally  forth 
with  pipe  in  mouth  to  besiege  some  fair  damsel's 
obdurate  heart — not  such  a  pipe,  good  reader, 
as  that  which  Acis  did  sweetly  tune  in  praise  of 
his  Galatrea,  but  one  of  true  Delft  manufacture, 
and  furnished  with  a  charge  of  fragrant  tobacco. 
With  this  he  would  resolutely  set  himself  down 
before  the  fortress,  and  rarely  failed,  in  the 
process  of  time,  to  smoke  the  fair  enemy  into 
surrender." 

We  have  the  following  picture  of  the  Puritan 
New  Englanders,  a  "  horde  of  strange  barba- 
rians bordering  upon  the  eastern  frontier." 

"  Now  it  so  came  to  pass  that  many  years 
previous  to  the  time  of  which  we  are  treating 
the  sage  cabinet  of  England  had  adopted  a 
certain  national  creed,  a  kind  of  public  walk  of 
faith,  or  rather  a  religious  turnpike,  in  which 
every  loyal  subject  was  directed  to  travel  to 
Zion,  taking  care  to  pay  the  toll-gatherers  by 
the  way. 


64  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"  Albeit  a  certain  shrewd  race  of  men,  being 
very  much  given  to  indulge  their  own  opinions 
on  all  manner  of  subjects,  (a  propensity  exceed- 
ingly offensive  to  your  governments  of  Europe,) 
did  most  presumptuously  dare  to  think  for 
themselves  in  matters  of  religion,  exercising 
what  they  considered  a  natural  and  unextin- 
guishable  right,  the  liberty  of  conscience. 

"  As,  however,  they  possessed  that  ingenuous 
habit  of  mind  which  always  thinks  aloud,  which 
rides  cock-a-hoop  on  the  tongue  and  is  forever 
galloping  into  other  people's  ears,  it  naturally 
followed  that  their  liberty  of  conscience  likewise 
implied  liberty  of  speech,  which,  being  freely  in- 
dulged, soon  put  the  country  in  a  hubbub,  and 
aroused  the  pious  indignation  of  the  vigilant 
fathers  of  the  Church. 

"  The  usual  methods  were  adopted  to  reclaim 
them  which,  in  those  days,  were  considered 
efficacious  in  bringing  back  stray  sheep  to  the 
fold  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  were  coaxed,  they 
were  admonished,  they  were  menaced,  they 
were  buffeted — line  upon 'line,  precept  upon 
precept,  lash  upon  lash,  here  a  little,  there  a 
great  deal — were  exhorted  without  mercy,  and 
without  success — until  the  worthy  Pastors  of 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          65 

the  Church,  wearied  out  by  their  unparalleled 
stubbornness,  were  driven,  in  the  excess  of 
their  tender  mercy,  to  adopt  the  Scripture  text, 
and  literally  to  heap  live  embers  on  their 
heads. 

"  Nothing,  however,  could  subdue  that  inde- 
pendence of  the  tongue  which  has  ever  distin- 
guished this  singular  race,  so  that,  rather  than 
subject  that  heroic  member  to  further  tyranny, 
they  one  and  all  embarked  for  the  wilderness 
of  America  to  enjoy  unmolested  the  inestima- 
ble right  of  talking  ;  and,  in  fact,  no  sooner  did 
they  land  upon  the  shore  of  this  free-spoken 
country  than  they  all  lifted  up  their  voices  and 
made  such  a  clamor  of  tongues  that  we  are 
told  they  frightened  every  bird  and  beast  out 
of  the  neighborhood,  and  struck  such  mute  ter- 
ror into  certain  fish  that  they  have  been  called 
dumb-fish  ever  since. 

"  This  may  appear  marvelous,  but  it  is  never- 
theless true  ;  in  proof  of  which  I  would  observe 
that  the  dumb-fish  has  ever  since  become  an 
object  of  superstitious  reverence,  and  forms  the 
Saturday's  dinner  of  every  true  Yankee. 

"The  simple  aborigines  of  the  land  for  a 
while  looked  upon  these  strange  folk  in  utter 


66          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

astonishment,  but  discovering  that  they  wielded 
harmless  though  noisy  weapons,  and  were  a 
lively,  ingenious,  good-humored  race  of  men, 
they  became  very  friendly  and  sociable,  and 
gave  them  the  name  of  Yanokies,  which  in  the 
Mais-Tchusaeg  (or  Massachusetts)  language 
signifies  silent  men,  a  waggish  appellation,  since 
shortened  into  the  familiar  epithet  of  Yankees, 
which  they  retain  unto  the  present  day." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          67 


CHAPTER  IX. 

IT  may  appear  remarkable  that  so  decided  a 
literary  and  financial  success  as  the  "  His- 
tory of  New  York,"  joined  with  the  fact  of  the 
author's  youth,  should  not  have  immediately 
stimulated  him  to  renewed  and  active  enter- 
prise in  authorship. 

One  secret  of  all  this  was  a  seemingly  curi- 
ous blending  in  his  nature  of  sprightliness  and 
activity  with  a  species  of  careless  indolence. 
He  belonged  not  to  that  class  of  writers  who, 
in  the  language  of  Dr.  Johnson,  "set  them- 
selves doggedly"  to  the  use  of  the  pen.  He 
was  more  a  creature  of  impulse,  of  "  frames  and 
feelings."  He  had  a  horror  of  being  obliged  to 
use  his  pen.  He  coveted  to  write  as  a  man  of 
leisure,  and  dreaded  the  idea  of  dependence 
upon  authorship  for  a  livelihood.  He  loved  to 
write  under  a  sort  of  inspiration ;  be  hated 
composition  as  a  task.  But  there  was  another, 
and  probably  a  deeper,  reason  for  the  pause  of 


68          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

his  pen  as  the  final  page  of  the  "  History"  was 
written. 

It  is  well  known  that  Washington  Irving 
lived  and  died  a  bachelor.  But,  to  use  an  ex- 
pression of  his  own,  he  "  was  never  intended 
for "  such  a  life ;  and  with  this  sentiment,  so 
frankly  avowed  by  himself,  all  who  have  famil- 
iarized themselves  with  the  man  through  his 
writings  will  be  inclined  to  acquiesce.  It 
would  be  judged  through  this  medium  that  no 
one  was  more  fitted  for  the  duties  and  happi- 
ness of  domestic  life  than  he.  His  respect  and 
esteem  for  the  fair  sex  were  sincere  and  pro- 
found ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  he  was  with 
ladies  a  universal  favorite.  Handsome  in  form 
and  in  feature,  of  warm  and  genial  tempera- 
ment, naturally  graceful  in  movement  and  man- 
ners, eminently  social,  and  possessing  conver- 
sational powers  as  remarkable  as  they  were 
animated  and  fascinating,  with  fine  intellectual 
faculties  and  accomplishments,  with  an  acknowl- 
edged genius  in  authorship  even  in  his  youth, 
and  challenging  for  himself  a  reputation  for 
uprightness  and  virtue  without  a  blemish,  it 
could  not  be  otherwise  than  that  this  refined 
young  gentleman  would  be  an  object  of  interest 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  69 

and  attraction  in  the  eyes  of  more  than  one  of 
the  elegant  ladies  with  whom  it  was  his  life- 
long habit  to  associate. 

One  of  these,  indeed,  he  loved,  and  was  be- 
loved in  return.  Precisely  how  long  this  mutual 
attachment  had  existed  does  not  appear ;  but  it 
was  an  established  fact  about  the  time  of  the 
completion  of  the  Knickerbocker  history.  The 
young  lady,  Matilda  Hoffman,  was  a  daughter 
of  the  gentleman  in  whose  office  Irving  had 
pursued  his  law  studies,  and  the  plans  and 
hopes  of  the  young  couple  seem  to  have  met 
the  approval  of  their  respective  family  circles. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  their  bright  hopes  and 
anticipations  Matilda  Hoffman  sickened  and 
died,  in  her  eighteenth  year,  and  left  her  lover 
broken-hearted,  and  "  the  dearest  hope  of  his 
life  was  forever  overthrown."  So  unspeakable 
and  profound  was  his  sorrow  that  he  almost 
never  spoke  of  it,  nor  spoke  nor  alluded  to  the 
precious  name  of  his  lost  Matilda.  Nor  from 
all  his  voluminous  writings  could  it  be  gathered 
that  such  an  attachment  had  ever  existed  ;  and 
many  a  one  that  saw  and  knew  the  man  only 
in  his  writings  has  felt  that  he  was,  indeed, 
"  not  intended  for  a  bachelor,"  and  wondered 


7O          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

that  his  genial  and  apparently  sunny  life  thus 
glided  away  in  solitude.  But  we  know  not  his 
whole  heart,  nor  discern  the  beautiful  image 
that  was  early  buried  there,  and  which  no  sub- 
sequent vision  of  loveliness  and  goodness  could 
ever  displace. 

Under  such  circumstances  how  increasingly 
admirable  appear  the  life  and  career  of  Irving ! 
Thousands  under  a  similar  adversity  have 
drooped  and  fainted,  and  all  the  sunshine  of 
their  life  was  lost  in  cold  and  dire  eclipse,  and 
they  never  took  hold  of  strength  more,  and  thus 
were  numbered  among  the  lost  lives.  Not  so 
with  the  subject  of  this  story.  He  mourned 
deeply — mourned,  perchance,  through  all  his 
affluence  of  humor,  blithesomeness,  and  gaycty, 
and,  for  aught  we  know,  his  inmost  heart  was 
bleeding  even  when  penning  some  one  of  his 
most  cheery  and  enlivening  sentiments.  It  may 
have  been  amid  the  "  shadow  of  death  "  that  he 
dispensed  for  the  delight  of  thousands  some  of 
the  sunniest  and  most  sparkling  and  sprightly 
pictures ;  and  that  half  century  of  years  from  his 
Matilda's  death  to  his  own  were,  doubtless,  lonely 
years — too  lonely  that  any  spirit  of  earth,  how- 
ever lovely,  beautiful,  and  good,  should  ever 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  /I 

com?  to  supply  the  fatal  want,  and,  by  her  gen- 
tle touch,  heal  up  the  life-long  wound.  In  his 
private  record  he  writes,  long  after  her  decease, 
"  She  died  in  the  beauty  of  her  yputh,  and  in 
my  memory  she  will  ever  be  young  and  beau- 
tifuJ." 

The  early  and  dreadful  shock  thus  received 
by  Washington  Irving,  about  the  time  of  issuing 
his  "  History  of  New  York,"  doubtless  had  its 
stunning  and  staggering  influence.  A  great 
amazement  came  over  him  ;  a  "  shadow  of  great 
darkness  "  fell  upon  him  a  calamity  such  as  has 
overwhelmed  and  destroyed  many  a  strong  man 
confounded  him  ;  and  no  wonder  that  his  facile 
and  beautiful  pen  dropped  from  his  palsied  hand, 
and  that  life  henceforth  became  a  different  thing 
from  what  it  had  been  before. 

Happy  for  himself  and  millions  more  that  he 
rallied,  that  his  head  was  uplifted  amid  the 
storm,  and  that,  in  the  whirlwind  and  the  blast- 
ing and  overthrow,  a  soft  voice  of  music  yet 
whispered  to  him,  Write  !  But  one  and  another 
untoward  circumstance  intervened,  and  it  was 
long  ere  that  "  still,  small  voice  "  prevailed. 


72          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving* 


CHAPTER  X. 

SHORTLY  after  the  publication  of  the 
"  Knickerbocker  History,"  Mr.  Irving,  at 
the  solicitation  of  his  two  brothers,  Peter  and 
Ebenezer,  entered  into  a  kind  of  silent  partner- 
ship with  them,  with  the  understanding  that 
they  were  to  be  the  active  agents  in  the  con- 
cern, while  he,  being  thus  provided  with  the 
means  of  subsistence,  would  be  at  liberty  to 
engage,  without  distraction  or  care,  in  literary 
pursuits. 

During  much  time,  however,  he  seems  to 
have  made  little  or  no  literary  exertion,  but 
gave  himself  up  with  a  sort  of  abandon  to  social 
enjoyments.  The  winter  following  his  business 
arrangement  with  his  brothers  certain  interests 
of  the  company  seemed  to  render  it  necessary 
that  he  should  visit  Washington.  Here  ht  re- 
mained till  the  close  of  the  session  in  March, 
giving  apparently  but  slight  attention  to  busi- 
ness affairs,  but  devoting  himself  without  re- 
serve to  the  festivities  and  gayeties  of  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  73 

capital.  His  letters  tell  of  M  time  passing  de- 
lightfully ;"  of  dinings,  balls,  dances,  levees, 
interesting  men,  fine  women,  and  the  like. 
Then  for  two  years  after  this  he  is  compara- 
tively idle,  though  faivored  with  a  situation  the 
most  auspicious  for  writing,  and  he  is  "  settled 
down  into  a  sort  of  gentleman  of  leisure — not 
neglectful  of  mental  cultivation,  it  is  true,  yet 
mainly  intent  upon  the  pleasures  and  amuse- 
ments of  the  passing  hour." 

For  a  year  or  two,  however,  subsequent  to 
this  unfruitful  interval  of  his  life,  Mr.  Irving  was 
induced  to  assume  editorial  charge  of  a  monthly 
periodical  entitled  "  Select  Reviews,"  and  pub- 
lished in  Philadelphia.  Its  name  was  subse- 
quently changed  to  "  Analectic  Review  ;"  and, 
during  Irving's  superintendency  of  the  periodi- 
cal, it  was  enriched  with  a  goodly  number  of  his 
contributions,  comprising  reviews  and  biographi- 
cal sketches.  The  employment,  however,  was 
not  to  his  taste,  the  necessity  of  periodical  writing 
being  inconsistent  with  that  perfect  freedom,  as 
to  times  and  themes  of  composition,  which  he 
always  so  much  coveted,  and  which  seemed  so 
necessary  to  a  full  and  free  exercise  of  his 
genius. 


74  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

In  May,  1815,  Mr.  Irving  embarked  the  second 
time  for  Europe,  and  arrived  at  Liverpool  amid 
the  rejoicings  over  the  splendid  victory  of 
Waterloo.  He  expresses  in  a  letter  his  regret 
at  the  hard  fate  of  Napoleon,  and  thinks  it  "  a 
thousand  pities  he  had  mot  fallen  like  a  hero  " 
in  the  great  battle. 

At  Liverpool  he  salutes,  after  seven  years  of 
separation,  his  brother  Peter,  who  was  acting  as 
foreign  partner  in  the  company  whose  formation 
has  been  already  noticed.  "  I  found  him,"  writes 
Washington  to  his  brother  Ebenezer,  the  home 
partner,  "very  comfortably  situated,  having 
handsomely  furnished  rooms,  and  keeping  a 
horse,  gig,  and  servant,  but  not  indulging  in  any 
extravagance  or  dash."  After  a  week's  visit 
with  Peter,  he  visits,  at  Birmingham,  his  sister, 
Mrs.  Van  Wart,  who,  together  with  her  husband 
and  children,  were  residing  there,  and  whom  he 
finds  "  in  excellent  health  and  spirits,  and  most 
delightfully  situated  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town." 
He  afterward  goes  on  an  excursion  to  Syden- 
ham,  with  a  view  to  visit  the  poet  Campbell. 
Not  finding  him  at  home,  he  spends  an  hour, 
however,  in  conversation  with  Mrs.  Campbell, 
"a  most  engaging  and  interesting  woman." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  75 

Afterward  he  visits  Kenilworth,  Warwick,  and 
Stratford-on-Avon,  and  views  other  interesting 
localities. 

Returning   to    Liverpool,  the  affairs  of  the 
company,  by  reason  of  a  protracted  illness  of 
his  brother,  require   his  attention    and  assist- 
ance ;  and,  though  averse  to  business,  he  for 
several  months  gives  unremitting  attention  to 
the  interests  of  the  firm.     Emerging  at  length 
from  "the  mud  of  Liverpool,"  and  the  "sordid 
cares  of  the  counting-house,"   he   revisits  his 
sister  at  Birmingham,  where  he  finds  his  brother 
Peter    enfeebled    and    helpless    by    sickness. 
Owing  to  excessive  purchases,  and  the  failure, 
through  adverse  winds,  of  their  goods  to  reach 
New  York  in  season,  the  affairs  of  the  company 
became   straitened    and   miserably  depressed. 
Nor  was  there  a  mere  temporary  depression, 
but  it  seems  to  have  been  protracted  and  dis- 
couraging, while  its   influence   upon   Irving's 
mind  was  such  as  to  incapacitate  him  for  writ- 
ing, or  for  accomplishing  for  a  time  any  of  those 
favorite  plans  that  had  led  him  a  second  time 
over  sea.     Arriving  in  England  in  the  sum- 
mer of    1815,  during  the  remainder  of   that 
year  and  the  whole  of  the  year  following  he 


76          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

found  himself  entangled  with  the  affairs  of  the 
company,  now  in  a  state  of  comparative  embar- 
rassment Yet  these  clouds  of  partial  adversity 
seem  to  have  been  not  without  their  chastening 
and  salutary  influence  upon  a  mind  whose 
hopes  and  anticipations  were,  perhaps,  too 
buoyant  and  confiding.  As  the  year  i8i6drew 
toward  its  close  we  notice  dripping  from  his  pen 
such  sentiments  as  these : 

"  My  own  individual  interests  are  nothing. 
The  merest  pittance  would  content  me  if  I  could 
crawl  out  from  among  these  troubles  and  see  my 
connections  safe  around  me."  This  beautiful 
fraternal  interest  and  affection  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  Irving's  prominent  characteristics, 
and  in  no  department  of  his  distinguished  char- 
acter does  he  appear  to  greater  advantage. 

In  the  same  connection  he  writes  again  :  "  It 
is  not  long  since  I  felt  myself  quite  sure  of  for- 
tune's smiles,  and  began  to  entertain  what  I 
thought  very  sober  and  rational  schemes  for 
my  future  comfort  and  establishment  At 
present  I  feel  so  tempest-tossed  and  weather- 
beaten  that  I  shall  be  content  to  be  quits  with 
fortune  for  a  very  moderate  portion,  and  give 
up  all  my  sober  schemes  as  the  dreams  of  fairy- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  77 

land."  Again,  alluding  to  the  blessings  of 
"  fortune,"  he  adds :  "  I  think  I  can  enjoy  them 
as  well  as  most  men.  I  shall  not  make  myself 
unhappy  if  she  (fortune)  chooses  to  be  scanty, 
and  shall  take  the  position  allotted  me  with  a 
cheerful  and  contented  mind." 

If  for  fortune  in  these  extracts  we  substitute 
a  more  Christian  term,  all  appears  sensible  and 
well.  It  may  be  that  Irving's  mind  was  upon 
the  Divine  Providence  in  penning  these  senti- 
ments ;  but  if  so,  why  does  he  not  write  as  he 
means  ?  Why,  alas !  will  multitudes,  in  their 
language,  recognize  the  gods  of  the  heathen, 
which  are  no  gods,  instead  of  acknowledging 
that  Divine  Hand  which  is  ever  holding  us  up, 
and  which  is  ever  ready  to  lead  us,  if  we  will, 
along  peaceful  and  prosperous  paths  ?  He  who 
talks  of  "fortune,"  "smiles  of  fortune,"  and 
"fortune  showering  blessings,"  and  assigns  to 
"fortune"  sex,  and  superintendence  over  hu- 
man affairs — such  a  man  talks  arrant  heathen- 
ism ;  and,  so  far  as  his  language  is  concerned, 
goes  out  from  the  light  into  outer  darkness,  and 
affiliates  and  grovels  with  the  veriest  pagans. 
If  it  be  replied  that  such  talkers  and  writers 
mean  what  is  correct,  then  we  ask  again,  Why 


78          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

not  say  what  they  mean  ?  What  is  the  neces- 
sity of  resorting  to  heathenism  for  terms  which, 
in  themselves,  are  worse  than  nothing,  when 
Christian  language  comprises  an  abundance  of 
%-  terms  having  the  true  meaning  ?  And  who  is 
so  devoid  of  all  sound  philosophy  as  not  to 
know  that  language  deeply  affects  the  mind  and 
the  belief.  He  who  adopts  a  heathen  terminol- 
ogy in  reference  to  spiritual  things  is,  ten  to 
one,  already  more  than  half  a  heathen  in  his 
actual  notions.  Instead  of  drawing  near  to  the 
true  God,  he  is  inhaling  a  Pagan  atmosphere 
and  stumbling  on  the  dark  mountains.  "  Com- 
mit thy  ways  unto  the  Lord,  and  thy  thoughts 
shall  be  established." 

Bankruptcy  soon  ensued  with  the  three 
brothers,  which,  though  deeply  afflictive  to 
Washington,  yet  his  distress  was  evidently  more 
for  his  brothers  than  for  himself.  He  seems 
glad  to  be  rid,  at  almost  any  rate,  of  the  busi- 
ness burdens  which  had  for  so  long  a  time 
pressed  heavily  upon  him.  "  I  am  eager,"  he 
writes,  "to  get  from  under  this  murky  cloud 
before  it  completely  withers  and  blights  me.  .  .  . 
A  much  longer  continuance  of  such  a  situation 
would  be  my  ruin." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  79 

But  a  blessing  comes  with  the  calamity,  for 
under  its  influence  he  is  drawn  to  a  better  faith, 
or,  at  least,  to  a  better  theology.  "  I  trust  in  a 
kind  Providence  that  shapes  all  things  for  the 
best,  and  yet  I  hope  to  find  future  good  spring- 
ing out  of  these  present  adversities." 

Well  said.  You  are  right,  young  man,  and 
according  to  your  faith  and  hope  it  shall  be 
done  unto  you. 


80          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THUS   Washington    Irving    at   thirty-four 
years  of  age  is  a  bankrupt.     In  this  "  low 
estate"  he  receives  a  remarkable  letter  from 
Mr.  James  Ogilvie,*  dated  at  London,  and  of 
which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

"  So  far  as  you  are  individually  concerned  I 
should  deem  the  language  of  condolence  a  sort 
of  mockery.  I  am  perfectly  confident  that  even 
in  two  years  you  will  look  back  on  this  seeming 
disaster  as  the  most  fortunate  incident  that  has 

*  Jlfr.  Ogilvie  was  a  Scotchman  of  noble  descent,  and  was, 
at  the  time  of  writing  this  letter,  approaching  sixty  years  of 
age.  lie  had  long  before  emigrated  to  this  country,  and,  be- 
coming embarrassed,  he  founded  a  classical  school  at  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  and  many  of  his  pupils  became  celebrated,  among 
•whom  were  such  names  as  General  Scott,  Commodore  Jones, 
W.  S.  Archer,  and  others.  After  several  years  he  went  to 
the  backwoods  of  Kentucky,  dwelt  alone  in  a  log-cabin,  and 
composed  there  a  series  of  deeply  interesting  lectures,  which 
he  delivered  with  great  applause  throughout  the  Atlantic 
States.  His  fame  reached  England,  and,  returning  to  Scot- 
land, he  on  his  way  lectured  in  London,  but  with  less  success. 
The  habitual  use  of  narcotics  ruined  his  intellect,  and  he  is 
said  to  have  perished  by  suicide  in  1820,  about  three  years 
after  penning  his  prophetic  epistle  to  Irving. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  8 1 

befallen  you.  Yet  in  the  flower  of  youth,  in  pos- 
session of  higher  literary  reputation  than  any  of 
your  countrymen  have  hitherto  claimed,  esteemed 
and  beloved  by  all  to  whom  you  are  intimately, 
or  even  casually,  known,  you  want  nothing  but 
a  stimulus  strong  enough  to  overcome  that 
indolence  which,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
besets  every  human  being.  This  seemingly 
unfortunate  incident  will  supply  this  stimulus — 
you  will  return  with  renovated  ardor  to  the 
arena  you  have  for  a  season  abandoned,  and  in 
twelve  months  win  trophies  for  which,  but  for 
this  incident,  you  would  not  even  have  con- 
tended." 

It  is  pleasant  to  notice  that  the  discouraging 
state  of  his  affairs  did  not  prevent  Mr.  Irving 
from  an  excursion,  about  this  time,  into  Scot- 
land, and  from  much  enjoyment  with  friends 
and  scenery  that  greeted  him  there. 

He  first  visited  Edinburgh,  and  was  en- 
chanted with  the  general  appearance  of  the  city. 
It  far  surpassed  all  his  expectations,  and,  with 
the  exception  of  Naples,  seemed  to  him  the 
most  picturesque  place  he  had  ever  seen.  The 
famous  Rock  and  Castle  presented  new  aspects 
of  beauty  as  often  as  he  viewed  them,  "  Ar- 


82          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

thur's  Seat "  was  a  perfect  witchcraft.  He 
rambled  about  the  bridges  and  on  Calton 
Hill  in  "a  perfect  intoxication  of  mind." 
The  public  buildings  he  seems  to  have  over- 
looked entirely.  He  was  utterly  absorbed  in  the 
romantic  features  of  the  scenery  around  him,  so 
that  a  single  day's  enjoyment  from  this  source 
was  a  sufficient  compensation  for  his  whole 
journey. 
His  visit  to  Walter  Scott*  seemed  mutually 

*  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  born  in  1771, 
and  was  allied  to  the  border  family  of  Scotts.  He  was  a  deli- 
cate child,  but  grew  firmer  in  health  as  he  approached  his 
tenth  year,  although  a  partial  lameness  began  with  his  second 
year  and  never  left  him.  He  was  educated  at  the  High 
School  and  University  of  Edinburgh,  in  neither  of  which  was 
he  distinguished  as  a  scholar.  He  was,  however,  a  prodigious 
reader  of  romances,  old  plays,  poetry,  travels,  and  every  kind 
of  miscellaneous  literature  on  which  he  could  lay  hands.  It 
was  thus  that  his  literary  tastes  and  character  were  shaped. 
He  was  an  ardent  lover  of  natural  scenery,  and  his  romantic 
feelings,  begotten  by  the  peculiar  character  of  his  reading, 
associated  themselves  with  the  various  grand  features  of  the 
landscape  scenery  around  him. 

He  was  at  fifteen  apprenticed  to  the  law  in  the  office  of  his 
father,  and,  after  the  study  of  six  years — perusing  literature 
largely  meanwhile — he  was  admitted  to  the  Scottish  Bar.  He 
now  soon  began  to  write  and  print,  and  for  about  a  score  of 
years  his  pen  was  mainly  directed  to  poetic  compositions. 
About  the  end  of  this  time,  however,  his  poetic  genius  seems 
to  have  waned,  and  his  popularity  in  this  department  of  lit- 
erature sensibly  declined,  while  at  the  same  time  the  eflful- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  83 

and  immensely  gratifying.  The  scenery  of 
Abbotsford  and  the  surroundings  charmed  him 

gence  of  Byron's  rising  glory  began  to  blaze  forth  with  daz- 
zling brilliancy. 

From  this  time  Scott  seems  to  have  assumed  a  "  new  point 
of  departure,"  and  he  deternmed  to  seek  literary  fame  in  an- 
other path  than  poetry.  Nine  or  ten  years  before  he  had 
commenced  a  novel  designed  to  illustrate  Highland  scenery 
and  customs  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  the  sheets 
seem  to  have  been  mislaid  and  forgotten.  These,  providen- 
tially, now  came  to  light,  and  Scott  seized  upon  the  work,  and 
in  three  weeks  finished  the  second  and  third  volumes,  and  put 
it  immediately  to  press  anonymously,  and  under  the  title  of 
'*  Waverley."  It  proved  a  great  success,  and  was  the  com- 
mencement of  that  wonderful  series  of  novels  bearing  the 
same  name — appearing  in  rapid  succession  for  a  term  of  years 
from  1815 — the  author  meanwhile  prosecuting  besides  various 
other  literary  works.  By  the  avails  of  his  labors  he  had  grad- 
ually built  up  for  himself  an  ample  and  beautiful  domain  on 
the  banks  of  the  Twreed,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Ab- 
botsford,  which  became  one  of  the  most  famous  of  literary 
shrines,  and  where  he  was  accustomed  to  dispense  a  generous 
hospitality.  Here  it  was  that  Irving  visited  him,  as  above 
described,  and  was  so  greatly  delighted  with  the  man,  the 
family,  the  surroundings,  and  every  thing. 

A  few  years  afterward,  however,  a  great  financial  reverse 
came  upon  Scott,  and  by  certain  business  connections  with 
two  Edinburgh  publishers  he,  by  their  failure,  became  in- 
volved in  an  enormous  debt  of  $750,000  !  This,  it  would 
seem,  would  have  appalled  any  man  but  Scott.  He,  however, 
having  procured  an  extension,  seized  his  pen,  and,  at  fifty-five 
years  of  age,  launched  away  upon  a  new  series  of  literary  la- 
bors astonishing  even  to  contemplate.  Suffice  it  to  say  that, 
by  his  wonderful  industry  and  herculean  efforts,  he,  in  about 
half  a  dozen  years,  paid  $500,000  of  his  debt,  and  by  dispos- 
ing of  the  copyrights  of  some  of  his  works-canceled  the  remain- 


84          Metnoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

into  "  a  kind  of  dream  or  delirium."     Leaving 
this  paradise,  he  never  departed  from  any  place 
with  more  regret,  and  the  few  days  he  passed 
there  were  "  among  the  most  delightful  of  his 
life,  and  worth  as  many  years  of  ordinary  ex- 
istence."    So,  also,  he  was  charmed  with  the 
Scott  family.    The  wife  and  mother,  the  sons  and 
daughters,  all  impressed  the  visitor  with  extra- 
ordinary interest,  while  of  Scott  himself  noth- 
ing but  Irving's  own  words  will  do.     "As  to 
Scott  himself,  I  cannot  express  my  delight  at 
his  character  and  manners.     He  is  a  sterling, 
golden-hearted  old  worthy,  'full  of  the  joyous- 
ness  of  youth/  with  an  imagination  continually 
furnishing  forth  pictures,  and  a  charming  sim- 
plicity of  manner  that  puts  you  at  ease  with 
him  in   a  moment.     It  has   been   a  constant 
source  of  pleasure  to  me  to  remark  his  deport- 
ment toward  his  family,  his  neighbors,  his  very 
dogs  and  cats  ;  every  thing  that  comes  within 
his  influence  seems  to  catch  a  beam  of  that 
sunshine  that  plays  round  his  heart.  ...  It  is  a 

der.  It  was  a  most  astonishing  achievement,  but  it  killed 
him.  Mental  exhaustion  came  on,  of  course.  His  brain  was 
overstrained,  general  health  declined,  gradual  paralysis  ensued, 
and  in  1832 — that  year  so  famous  for  distinguished  deaths- 
Walter  Scott  expired.  He  was  made  baronet  in  1820. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  85 

perfect  picture  to  see  Scott  and  his  household 
assembled  of  an  evening — the  dogs  stretched 
before  the  fire,  the  cat  perched  on  a  chair,  Mrs. 
Scott  and  the  girls  sewing,  and  Scott  either 
reading  out  of  some  old  romance,  or  telling 
border  stories. 

Per  Contra. — Just  after  receiving  this  visit 
from  Irving,  Scott  writes  thus  to  a  friend : 
"  When  you  see  Tom  Campbell,  tell  him,  with 
my  best  love,  that  I  have  to  thank  him  for  mak- 
ing me  known  to  Mr.  Washington  Irving,  who 
is  one  of  the  best  and  pleasantest  acquaintances 
I  have  made  this  many  a  day." 

Meanwhile  other  delightful  friends  saluted 
the  visitor  to  Scotland.  Jeffrey  *  was  extremely 


*  Francis  ^Jeffrey  was  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  and  Oxford.  He  was  always 
near  the  head  of  his  class,  and  is  said  to  have  never  lost  his 
class  position  without  weeping.  At  Glasgow  he  excelled  as  a 
speaker  and  debater,  and  formed  the  important  habit  which 
all  students  should  consider  well,  of  systematically  accompany- 
ing all  his  studies  by  collateral  composition. 

His  residence  at  Oxford  was  far  from  agreeable  to  him, 
where  he  declared  that  he  saw  nothing  to  acquire  except 
"  drinking  and  praying."  He  soon  left,  and  attended  the  law 
class  at  Edinburgh  University,  at  the  same  time  busying  him- 
self with  literature,  and  was  a  member  of  the  "  Speculative 
Society,"  a  famous  debating  club,  comprising  names  afterward 
celebrated  in  history.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1794, 
but  suffered,  for  a  time,  as  a  lawyer,  by  his  ardent  pursuit  of 


86          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

friendly  and  agreeable.    At  his  table  Irving  met 
the  wife  and  daughter  of  Dugald  Stewart,*  also 

literature,  to  which  he  was  as  much  devoted  as  to  his  profes- 
sion. He,  in  connection  with  Brougham,  Sidney  Smith,  and 
Horner,  planned  the  Edinburgh  Review,  whose  first  number 
appeared  in  1802,  with  Jeffrey  as  editor.  This  periodical  be- 
came rapidly  popular,  and  Jeffrey  continued  its  editor  for 
twenty-six  years,  during  all  of  which  time  he  was  its  most 
popular  contributor,  and  the  whole  number  of  his  contribu- 
tions amounted  to  two  hundred.  He  was  among  the  most 
famous  of  critics,  pointing  out  the  beauties  and  defects  of  com- 
positions under  his  examination  with  wonderful  thoroughness 
and  masterly  ability.  The  freedom  of  his  strictures  was  greatly 
offensive  to  many  of  the  distinguished  writers  of  his  time,  and 
such  authors  as  Moore,  Wordsworth,  Southey,  Coleridge,  and 
others  were  among  those  who  were  compelled  to  writhe  under 
the  edge  of  his  terrible  scalpel.  Moore  once  challenged  him 
to  mortal  combat  ;  and  so  enraged  with  him  was  Wordsworth 
that  he  classed  him  with  Robespierre  and  Bonaparte,  de- 
nouncing them  as  the  three  most  formidable  enemies  of 
mankind  that  had  appeared  within  his  memory.  At  the  same 
time  his  criticism  of  authors  seems  to  have  been  as  fully  alive 
to  their  beauties  and  excellence  as  to  their  defects,  while  the 
former  were  very  generally  selected  for  quotation. 

Jeffrey  married,  as  his  second  wife,  Miss  Charlotte  Wilkes, 
a  New  York  lady,  and  at  the  time  of  Irving's  visit,  as  described 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  was  forty-four  years  old,  and  in  the 
full  ripeness  of  his  powers.  His  reputation  as  a  lawyer  in- 
creased with  his  success  as  a  reviewer,  and  he  rose  to  the 
highest  eminence  of  an  advocate.  He  became  successively 
Rector  of  Glasgow  University,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  Advo- 
cates, Law  Advocate,  Member  of  Parliament,  and  Judge  upon 
the  Scottish  Bench.  He  died  in  1850. 

*  Dugald  Stewart  was  also  a  native  of  Edinburgh,  born  in 
1753,  an<^  was  educated  at  the  High  School  and  University  of 
his  native  city,  but  heard  the  lectures  of  Reid  at  Glasgow  for 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  87 

Lady  Davy,  wife  of  Sir  Humphrey,*  who  "  talked 
like  an  angel,"  and  whose  colloquial  excellence 

a  single  term.  At  twenty-one  he  was  chosen  Mathematical 
Professor  at  Edinburgh,  and  on  the  resignation  of  the  Chair 
of  Moral  Philosophy  by  Professor  Ferguson  he  was  elected 
his  successor,  holding  the  office  during  twenty-four  years,  and 
enjoying  the  highest  reputation  as  a  lecturer.  The  most  com- 
petent authorities,  as  Mackintosh,  Cockburn,  Mill,  and  others, 
pronounced  him  one  of  the  most  accomplished  didactic  orators 
of  modern  times,  whose  eloquence  in  his  lectures,  says  the 
latter,  far  surpassed  Pitt  and  Fox  in  their  most  admired 
speeches. 

In  1792  Stewart  published  the  first  volume  of  "  Elements  of 
Philosophy  of  the  Mind,'*  and  the  next  year  his  "Outlines  of 
Moral  Philosophy."  In  1796  followed  the  Biography  of  Dr. 
Robertson,  and  in  1802  that  of  Dr.  Reid.  In  1810  appeared 
his  "  Philosophical  Essays,"  Retiring  from  his  professorship, 
he  published  several  other  important  works,  among  which  was 
his  "  Philosophy  of  fche  Active  and  Moral  Powers,"  w!aich  was 
completed  just  before  his  death  in  1828. 

*  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  was  a  native  of  Cornwall,  and  was 
born  in  1778.  He  was  not  remarkable  as  a  boy,  yet  stood 
•well  in  his  studies,  had  a  taste  for  fishing  and  hunting,  which 
he  never  lost.,  and  finished  his  school  education  at  fifteen, 
when  his  process  of  self-education  commenced.  He  at  sixteen 
was  apprenticed  to  a  physician,  and  commenced  studying  with 
great  zeal,  giving  attention  not  only  to  medicine,  but  to  lin- 
guistic, mathematical,  and  metaphysical  studies,  and  especially 
to  chemistry  and  physics,  not  neglecting  poetry  and  fiction  ; 
and  on  all  his  subjects  of  study  he  read  the  best  authorities 
within  his  reach.  In  his  nineteenth  year  his  attention  was 
first  strongly  turned  to  chemistry ;  and  reading  of  Lavoisier 
"  first  led  him  to  the  experimental  study  of  the  science  in 
which  he  was  destined  to  work  such  remarkable  changes.*' 
At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  was  appointed  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  Royal  Institute  established  at  London,  where 


88          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

attracted  all  ears,  as  the  "  minster-bird "  drew 
to   the   surrounding    trees    and    branches    all 

"his  lectures  at  once  became  exceedingly  popular;  his  youth, 
simple  manners,  eloquence,  his  knowledge  of  his  subject,  and 
his  brilliant  experiments,  excited  the  attention  of  the  highest 
ranks  in  London ;   his  society  was   coveted  by   all,  and  he 
seemed  in  danger  of  becoming  a  votary  of  fashion  rather  than 
of  science."     He  continued  here  eleven  and  a  half  years,  de- 
voting  all  his  time  and  energies  to  lecturing  and  to  experi- 
mental studies,  in  which  his  enthusiasm  and  the  excitement  of 
his  discoveries  threw  him  into  a  fever  and  nearly  finished  his 
life.    Rallying,  however,  his  experiments  and  discoveries  went 
on  hand  in  hand,  and  his  reputation  as  a  lecturer  arose  with 
his  success,  and  became  such  that  he  was  invited  to  lecture  in 
different  cities,  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Civil  Law  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  in  April,  1812,  was  knighted.    In 
the  same  month  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Apreece,  a  lady  of 
accomplishments  and  considerable  fortune,  and  who  was  the 
lady  that  so  astonished  Irving  by  her  colloquial  powers.     Sir 
Humphrey  afterward  traveled  extensively  on  the  Continent, 
still  pursuing,  however,  his  chemical  researches.     In  1812  a 
terrific  explosion  having  occurred  in  a  coal  mine.,  by  which  a 
hundred  men  were  killed,  Davy  was  solicited  to  devise,  if  possi- 
ble, some  contrivance  for  preventing  such  destructive  calami- 
ties.    Hence  resulted,    in  the  course  of  a   few  months,  the 
famous  "  safety-lamp,*'  an  invention  which  has  elevated  Davy 
to  be  one  of  the  benefactors  of  mankind.     On  its  being  sug- 
gested to  him  that  he  should  avail  himself  of  a  patent  for  this 
invention,  he  responded   in  these  noble   words :     "  No,  my 
good  friend,  I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing ;  my  sole  object 
was  to  serve  the  cause  of  humanity,  and  if  I  have  succeeded,  I 
am   amply  rewarded  in   the   gratifying   reflection   of  having 
done  so." 

Davy  was,  by  universal  consent,  considered  without  a  su- 
perior, if  he  had  an  equal,  among  the  chemists  of  his  time.  He 
died  at  Geneva,  June  1st,  1829. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          89 

the  birds  of  the  forest  in  listening  attitudes. 
His  excursion  in  the  Highlands  was  one  of  the 
most  delightful  he  ever  made :  weather  warm, 
genial,  serene,  and  sunshiny ;  traveling  by  chaise, 
coach,  gig,  boat,  cart,  and  on  foot ;  scenery 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  and  beautiful  in 
Scotland. 


90          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THUS,  after  three  tedious  years  in  England, 
during  which  the  mercantile  prospects  of 
the  three  brothers  went  down  in  bankruptcy, 
Washington  Irving,  emancipated  now  from  the 
thraldom  of  business,  with  which  he  was  constitu- 
tionally unfit  to  grapple,  again  resumed  his  pen, 
and  resumed  it  as  his  reliance  for  further  sup- 
port and  independence. 

Through  the  agency  of  his  eldest  brother, 
William,  who  was  at  this  time  a  member  of 
Congress,  an  eligible  place  Jiad  been  secured  for 
Washington  in  the  Navy  Board,  with  a  salary 
equal  to  $2,400.  It  was  an  office  whose  duties 
would  be  light,  and  which  would  afford  ample 
leisure  for  literary  pursuits.  To  the  great  dis- 
appointment of  William,  however,  his  brother 
declined  this  fine  opening,  assigning  as  a  prin- 
cipal reason  that  he  did  not  wish  to  undertake 
any  situation  that  must  involve  him  in  such  a 
routine  of  duties  as  to  prevent  him  from  literary 
pursuits.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother  Ebenezcr, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  91 

he  presents,  somewhat  at  large,  his  feelings, 
views,  and  notions  relating  to  the  important 
position  which  he  had  assumed,  and  which, 
when  connected  with  the  magnificent  results 
following  his  decision,  challenges  for  itself  a 
more  than  ordinary  interest.  In  this  letter  he 
submits  that  the  situation  at  Washington  would 
but  barely  sustain  him  genteelly  ;  that  it  could 
lead  to  nothing  higher  except  politically,  and  for 
political  life  his  talents,  habits,  and  taste  were 
not  adapted  ;  that  he  could  not,  at  the  same 
time  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  and 
pursue  his  favorite  plan  of  literary  studies,  and 
that  if  he  were  ever  to  gain  any  solid  reputation 
with  the  public  it  must  be  "  in  the  quiet  and 
assiduous  operations  of  his  pen."  He  was 
now  thirty-five  years  of  age ;  and  he  adds  in 
this  letter  to  his  brother  that  he  had  already 
suffered  several  precious  years  of  youth  and 
lively  imagination  to  pass  by  unimproved,  and 
that  it  behooved  him  to  make  the  most  of  what 
was  left ;  that  this  was  the  very  period  of  his 
life  most  auspicious  for  securing  a  literary  repu- 
tation, and  if  he  should  succeed  in  this  it  would 
repay  him  for  a  world  of  care  and  privation  to 
be  placed  among  the  established  authors  of  his 


92  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

country,  and  to  win  the  affections  of  his  country- 
men. 

Thus  it  happily  came  to  pass  that  Irving 
declined  office,  and  struck  out  a  path  for  him- 
self ;  and  the  sequel  amply  demonstrated  the 
correctness  and  wisdom  of  his  decision. 

At  the  time  of  penning  the  important  letter 
above  noticed,  Mr.  Irving  was  just  about  put- 
ting to  press  the  first  number  of  the  "  Sketch 
Book."  Its  first  publication  was  in  this  coun- 
try ;  and  it  was  issued  in  successive  numbers, 
and  from  time  to  time,  until  completed.  It  was 
afterward  issued  in  London,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  author ;  and  it  was,  in  both  countries,  at 
once  exceedingly  popular,  highly  approved  both 
by  American  and  English  critics,  and  greatly 
advanced,  on  both  sides  of  the  water,  the  repu- 
tation of  its  author. 

The  work  comprises  a  series  of  sketches,  from 
thirty  to  forty  in  number,  some  of  them  quite 
brief,  others  expanded  into  much  greater  length, 
and  presenting  a  very  considerable  variety  of 
topics.  Authors,  scenery,  customs,  localities, 
stories,  etc.,  come  into  the  scope  of  the  work — 
some  of  the  sketches  dwelling  upon  American 
scenery  and  personages,  but  most  of  them  occu- 


Mcnioir  of  Washington  Irving.  93 

pied  with  English  subjects,  over  which  the 
author  seems  to  linger  with  more  than  ordinary 
partiality.  The  series  is  marked  by  a  pleasant 
variety,  not  only  in  respect  to  the  character  of  the 
themes,  but  the  temperament,  so  to  speak,  with 
which  they  are  treated.  There  will  be  found 
the  sobriety  of  history  and  narrative,  the  pathos 
belonging  to  unaffected  sympathy  with  sorrow, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  humor  by  which 
his  genius  seemed  so  strongly  characterized. 

The  style  of  the  sketches  is  every-where  his 
own — pure,  chaste,  easy,  flowing  ;  often  elegant, 
and  always  appropriate  to  the  theme  in  hand  ; 
rich,  yet  not  extravagant  with  varied  and  perti- 
nent imagery — pleasant  flowers  of  speech  inter- 
mingling themselves  with  his  graceful  and  facile 
style,  presenting  themselves  not  in  gorgeous 
superabundance  as  in  some  artificial  garden  of 
beauty,  but  constantly  occurring  in  a  sort  of 
natural  order  and  variety,  like  the  floral  adorn- 
ments that  greet  us  as  we  glance  along  some 
cultivated  and  beautiful  landscape. 

A  brief  extract  or  two  from  these  admirable 
sketches  may  not  be  without  use  in  setting  forth 
some  of  the  more  prominent  peculiarities  of  Mr, 
Irving's  spirit  and  style  of  composition. 


94          Metnoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IN  his  Sketch  of  Mr.  Roscoe,  of  Liverpool, 
comparing  him  with  other  English  writers 
of  distinction,  Mr.  Irving  writes : 

"  Mr.  Roscoe  has  claimed  none  of  the  ac* 
corded  privileges  of  talent.  He  has  shut  him- 
self up  in  no  garden  of  thought  nor  elysium  of 
fancy,  but  has  gone  forth  into  the  highways  and 
thoroughfares  of  life  ;  he  has  planted  bowers  by 
the  way-side  for  the  refreshment  of  the  pilgrim 
and  the  sojourner,  and  has  opened  pure  fountains, 
where  the  laboring  man  may  turn. aside  from  the 
dust  and  heat  of  the  day,  and  drink  of  the  living 
streams  of  knowledge.  There  is  a  '  daily  beauty 
in  his  life '  on  which  mankind  may  meditate  and 
grow  better.  It  exhibits  no  lofty,  and  almost  use- 
less, because  inimitable,  example  of  excellence, 
but  presents  a  picture  of  active,  yet  simple  and 
imitable  virtues,  which  are  within  every  man's 
reach,  but  which,  unfortunately,  are  not  exercised 
by  many,  or  this  world  would  be  a  paradise.  .  .  . 

"  He  has   shown   how  much   may  be  done 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  95 

for  a  place  in  hours  of  leisure  by  one  master 
spirit,  and  how  completely  it  can  give  its  own 
impress  to  surrounding  objects.  Like  his  own 
'Lorenzo  cle  Medici/  on  whom  he  seems  to 
have  fixed  his  eye  as  on  a  pure  model  of  antiq- 
uity, he  has  interwoven  the  history  of  his  life 
with  the  history  of  his  native  town,  and  has 
made  the  foundations  of  its  fame  the  monuments 
of  his  virtues.  Wherever  you  go  in  Liverpool 
you  perceive  traces  of  his  footsteps  in  all  that  is 
elegant  and  liberal.  He  found  the  tide  of  wealth 
flowing  merely  in  the  channels  of  traffic  ;  he  has 
diverted  from  it  invigorating  rills  to  refresh  the 
gardens  of  literature.  By  his  own  example  and 
constant  exertion,  he  has  effected  that  union 
of  commerce  and  the  intellectual  pursuits  so 
eloquently  recommended  in  one  of  his  latest 
writings,  and  has  practically  proved  how  beau- 
tifully they  may  be  brought  to  harmonize,  and 
to  benefit  each  other." 

We  have  the  following  touching  the  "  Royal 
Poet/'  James  of  Scotland — an  extract  closing 
with  a  passage  whose  splendid  imagery,  brilliant 
words,  harmonious  and  graceful  construction, 
and  musical  movement,  are  hardly  surpassed  in 
the  English  language : 


96          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"  James  flourished  nearly  about  the  time  of 
Chaucer  and  Go  wer,  and  was  evidently  an  admirer 
and  studier  of  their  writings.  Indeed,  in  one  of  his 
stanzas  he  acknowledges  them  as  his  masters ; 
and  in  some  parts  of  his  poem  we  find  traces  of 
similarity  to  their  productions,  more  especially 
to  those  of  Chaucer.  There  are  always,  how- 
ever, general  features  of  resemblance  in  the 
works  of  contemporary  authors  which  are  not 
so  much  borrowed  from  each  other  as  from  the 
times.  Writers,  like  bees,  toll  their  sweets  in 
the  wide  world  ;  they  incorporate  with  their  own 
conceptions  the  anecdotes  and  thoughts  current 
in  society  ;  and  thus  each  generation  has  some 
features  in  common  characteristic  of  the  age  in 
which  it  lived. 

"  James  belongs  to  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
eras  of  our  literary  history,  and  establishes  the 
claims  of  his  country  to  a  participation  in  its 
primitive  honors.  Whilst  a  small  cluster  of 
English  writers  are  constantly  cited  as  the 
fathers  of  our  verse,  the  name  of  their  great 
Scottish  compeer  is  apt  to  be  passed  over  in 
silence  ;  but  he  is  evidently  worthy  of  being 
enrolled  in  that  little  constellation  of  remote  but 
never-failing  luminaries  who  shine  in  the  high- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          97 

est  firmament  of  literature,  and  who,  like  the 
morning  stars,  sang  together  at  the  bright 
dawning  of  British  poesy." 

The  author  is  moving  pensively  amid  the 
somber  scenery  of  Westminster  Abbey.  Let 
us  glance  at  a  picture  or  two : 

"  While  wandering  about  these  gloomy  vaults 
and  silent  aisles,  studying  the  records  of  the 
dead,  the  sound  of  busy  existence  from  without 
occasionally  reaches  the  ear — the  rumbling  of 
the  passing  equipage,  the  murmur  of  the  multi- 
tude, or,  perhaps,  the  light  laugh  of  pleasure. 
The  contrast  is  striking  with  the  death-like 
repose  around  ;  and  it  has  a  strange  effect  upon 
the  feelings  thus  to  hear  the  surges  of  active 
life  hurrying  along  and  beating  against  the  very 
walls  of  the  sepulcher.  .  .  . 

"  Two  small  aisles  on  each  side  of  this  chapel 
present  a  touching  instance  of  the  equality  of 
the  grave,  which  brings  down  the  oppressor  to 
a  level  with  the  oppressed,  and  mingles  the  dust 
of  the  bitterest  enemies  together.  In  one  is 
the  sepulcher  of  the  haughty  Elizabeth,  in  the 
other  is  that  of  her  victim,  the  lovely  and  unfor- 
tunate Mary.  Not  an  hour  in  the  day  but  some 
ejaculation  of  pity  is  uttered  over  the  fate  of  the 


98          Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

latter,  mingled  with  indignation  at  her  oppressor. 
The  walls  of  Elizabeth's  sepulcher  continually 
echo  with  the  sighs  of  sympathy  heaved  at  the 
grave  of  her  rival. 

"  A  peculiar  melancholy  reigns  over  the  aisle 
where  Mary  lies  buried.  The  light  struggles 
dimly  through  windows  darkened  by  dust.  The 
greater  part  of  the  place  is  in  deep  shadow,  and 
the  walls  are  stained  and  tinted  by  time  and 
weather." 

The  author  as  he  retires  from  the  Abbey  thus 
meditates : 

"  What  is  this  vast  assemblage  of  sepulchcrs 
but  a  treasury  of  humiliation — a  huge  pile  of 
reiterated  homilies  on  the  emptiness  of  renown 
and  the  certainty  of  oblivion  !  It  is  indeed  the 
empire  of  death ;  his  great  shadowy  palace, 
where  he  sits  in  state,  mocking  at  the  relics  of 
human  glory,  and  spreading  dust  and  forgetful- 
ness  on  the  monuments  of  princes.  How  idle 
a  boast,  after  all,  is  the  immortality  of  a  name ! 
Time  is  ever  silently  running  over  his  pages  ; 
we  are  too  much  engrossed  by  the  story  of  the 
present  to  think  of  the  characters  and  anecdotes 
that  gave  interest  to  the  past ;  and  each  age  is 
a  volume  thrown  aside  to  be  speedily  forgotten. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  99 

The  idol  of  to-day  pushes  the  hero  of  yesterday 
out  of  our  recollection,  and  will  in  turn  be  sup- 
planted by  his  successor  of  to-morrow." 

We  have  the  following  picture  of  an  English 
stage-coachman : 

"  He  has  commonly  a  broad,  full  face,  curi- 
ously mottled  with  red,  as  if  the  blood  had  been 
forced  by  hard  feeding  into  every  vessel  of  the 
skin  ;  he  is  swelled  into  jolly  dimensions  by 
frequent  potations  of  malt  liquors,  and  his  bulk 
is  still  further  increased  by  a  multiplicity  of 
coats,  in  which  he  is  buried  like  a  cauliflower,  the 
upper  one  reaching  to  his  heels.  He  wears  a 
broad-brimmed,  low-crowned  hat ;  a  huge  roll  of 
colored  handkerchief  about  his  neck,  knowingly 
knotted  and  tucked  in  at  the  bosom  ;  and  has  in 
summer  time  a  large  bouquet  of  flowers  in  his 
button-hole,  the  present,  most  probably,  of  some 
enamored  country  lass.  His  waistcoat  is  com- 
monly of  some  bright  color,  striped,  and  his 
small  clothes  extend  far  below  his  knees,  to 
meet  a  pair  of  jockey  boots  which  reach  about 
half  way  up  his  legs.  ...  He  enjoys  great  con- 
sequence and  consideration  along  the  road  ;  has 
frequent  conferences  with  the  village  house- 
wives, who  look  upon  him  as  a  man  of-  great 


ioo        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

trust  and  dependence,  and  he  seems  to  have  a 
good  understanding  with  every  bright  eyed  coun- 
try lass.     The  moment  he  arrives  where  the 
horses  are  to  be  changed  he  throws  down  the 
reins  with  something  of  an  air,  and  abandons 
the  cattle  to  the  care  of  the  hostler,  his  duty 
being  merely  to  drive  from  one  stage  to  another. 
When  off  the  box  his  hands  are  thrust  into  the 
pocket  of  his  great-coat,  and  he  rolls  about  the 
inn-yard  with  an  air  of  the  most  absolute  lord- 
liness.    Here  he  is  generally  surrounded  by  an 
admiring  throng  of  hostlers,  stable-boys,  shoe- 
blacks,  and  those  nameless   hangers    on  that 
infest  inns  and  taverns,  and  run  errands,  and 
do  all  kinds  of  odd  jobs  for  the  privilege  of  fat- 
tening on  the  drippings  of  the  kitchen  and  the 
leakage  of  the  tap-room.     These  all  look  up  to 
him   as   to  an  oracle  ;    treasure  up   his   cant 
phrases ;  echo  his   opinions  about  horses  and 
other  topics   of  jockey  lore  ;    and,  above   all, 
endeavor  to  imitate  his  air  and  carriage.     Every 
ragamuffin  that  has  a  coat  to  his  back  thrusts 
his  hands  into  the  pockets,  rolls  in  his  gait,  talks 
slang,  and  is  an  embryo  coachey." 

"John  Bull"  is  thus  pictured : 

"John    Bull,  to  all   appearance,  is  a  plain, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         101 

downright,  matter-of-fact  fellow,  with  much  less 
of  poetry  about  him  than  rich  prose.  There  is  a 
little  of  romance  in  his  nature,  but  a  vast  deal 
of  strong  natural  feeling.  He  excels  in  humor 
more  than  in  wit ;  is  jolly  rather  than  gay ;  mel- 
ancholy rather  than  morose;  can  easily  be 
moved  to  a  sudden  tear,  or  surprised  into  a 
broad  laugh ;  but  he  loathes  sentiment,  and  has 
no  turn  for  light  pleasantry.  He  is  a  boon 
companion  if  you  allow  him  to  have  his  humor, 
and  to  talk  about  himself ;  and  he  will  stand  by 
a  friend  in  a  quarrel  with  life  and  purse,  however 
soundly  he  may  be  cudgeled.  .  .  . 

"His  family  mansion  is  an  old  castellated 
manor-house,  gray  with  age,  and  of  a  most 
venerable,  weather-beaten  appearance.  It 
has  been  built  upon  no  regular  plan,  but  is  a 
vast  accumulation  of  parts,  erected  in  various 
tastes  and  ages.  The  center  bears  evident 
traces  of  Saxon  architecture,  and  is  as  solid  as 
ponderous  stone  and  old  English  oak  can  make 
it.  Like  all  the  relics  of  that  style,  it  is  full  of 
obscure  passages,  intricate  mazes,  and  dusky 
chambers  ;  and  though  these  have  been  par- 
tially lighted  up  in  modern  days,  yet  there  are 
many  places  where  you  must  still  grope  in  the 


IO2         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

dark.  Additions  have  been  made  to  the  origi- 
nal edifice  from  time  to  time,  and  great  altera- 
tions have  taken  place  ;  towers  and  battlements 
have  been  erected  during  wars  and  tumults  ; 
wings  built  in  time  of  peace,  and  out-houses, 
lodges,  and  offices  run  up,  according  to  the  whim 
or  convenience  of  different  generations,  until  it 
has  became  one  of  the  most  spacious,  rambling 
tenements  imaginable." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         103 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MR.  IRVING  had  now  been  five  years 
abroad,  and  during  all  this  time  had 
been  by  circumstances  detained  in  England. 
At  length  the  way  was  open  for  him  to  gratify 
his  long-cherished  desire  and  intention  to  cross 
the  channel,  and  to  visit  some  of  the  famous 
cities  and  other  interesting  objects  of  conti- 
nental Europe. 

Of  course  he  first  visited  Paris,  where  he 
resided  nearly  a  year.  Here  he  made  several 
new  and  interesting  acquaintances,  among  whom 
was  Moore,  the  poet,*  who,  with  his  wife,  was 
also  residing  at  that  time  in  Paris.  Moore  was 
four  years  the  senior  of  Irving,  and  on  their 
first  acquaintance  a  mutual  and  strong. friend- 

*  Thomas  Aloore  was  born  in  1779,  and  was  educated  in 
Dublin,  his  native  city.  His  writings  were  voluminous,  com- 
prising prose  as  well  as  poetry.  Some  of  his  earlier  poems 
are,  unfortunately,  defaced  by  more  or  less  of  pruriency,  and 
have  an  immoral  tendency ;  but  much  of  his  poetry  is  excel* 
lent,  and  Lalla  Kookh  comprises  strains  and  passages  not  ex* 
celled  in  the  English  language  for  poetic  sweetness  and  beauty, 
lie  died  in  1852. 


IO4        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ship  commenced  between  them,  which  seems 
to  have  continued  through  life.  "  He  is  a 
cheery,  joyous  fellow,"  writes  Irving  in  his  first 
notice  of  him,  "full  of  frank,  generous,  and 
manly  feeling.  His  acquaintance  is  one  of  the 
most  gratifying  things  I  have  met  with  for 
some  time,  as  he  takes  the  warm  interest  of  an 
old  friend  in  me  and  my  concerns."  It  is  need- 
less to  add  that  all  such  pleasant  sentiments 
were  fully  reciprocated,  and  this  new  and  unex- 
pected friendship  was  one  of  the  special  charms 
for  Irving  during  his  residence  at  the  French 
capital.  He  also  at  Paris  formed  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  English  statesman,  George  Can- 
ning,* who  showed  him  much  attention,  and 


*  George  Canning  was  born  in  London  in  1770,  was  edu- 
cated at  Eton  and  Oxford,  where  he  gained  high  academical 
honors,  and  evinced  great  powers  of  oratory.  He  early  devoted 
himself  to  politics,  and  in  the  course  of  his  life  sustained  nu- 
merous important  offices.  He  was  several  times  in  the  Cabi- 
net, being  once  Premier,  and  several  times  also  in  Parliament, 
was  a  foreign  embassador,  and  was  offered  the  important 
office  of  Governor  General  of  India. 

He  was  remarkable  as  a  speaker,  while  in  keen  and  cutting 
irony,  sparkling  wit,  sarcasm,  and  eloquence,  he  was  among 
the  first  orators  of  his  time.  A  newspaper  of  the  day,  an- 
nouncing his  death,  represents  him  as  "  endowed  with  every 
choicest  gift  of  nature,  had  risen  from  a  low  condition  to  the 
highest  office  in  the  State,  and  centered  in  himself  the  best 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         105 

expressed  a  very  favorable  opinion  of  his  writ- 
ings. Lord  John  Russell,  now  Earl  Russell,* 
about  ten  years  the  junior  of  Irving,  was  also 
among  his  distinguished  acquaintances  at  Paris. 
Here,  too,  he  met  his  townsman,  John  Howard 
Payne,f  author  of  the  popular  ballad  "  Home, 

hopes  of  the  best  men  in  the  civilized  world."  He  died  at 
Chiswick  in  1827. 

*  Lord  John  Russell  is  third  son  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
born  1792,  and  is,  of  course,  now  an  old  man.  He  studied  at 
the  University  of  Edinburgh,  and  at  twenty-one  years  of  age 
we  find  him  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  seems  to  have  been 
either  in  Parliament  or  in  the  cabinet  the  most  of  his  life. 
He  early  assumed  the  position  of  a  Parliamentary  reformer, 
and  has  constantly  sustained  that  character  throughout  his 
long  public  career,  and  has  been  earnest  and  efficient  in  the 
several  reforms  which  have  been  carried  in  Parliament  for  the 
last  half  century.  He  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  in  1861, 
with  the  title  of  Earl  Russell.  He  is  an  author  as  well  as  a 
statesman,  having  employed  his  pen  with  history,  biography, 
and  fiction,  besides  some  miscellaneous  works. 

t  yohn  Ifavard  /Vrjvr*  was  born  in  1792  in  New  York,  and 
in  childhood  evinced  a  precocious  genius  for  poetry  and  dra- 
matic exercises  and  exhibitions.  He  entered  Union  College, 
but  remained  there  only  a  brief  period,  and  in  his  sixteenth 
year  we  find  him  upon  the  stage,  acting  the  part  of  Young 
Norval  at  the  Park  Theater,  New  York.  The  most  of  his  sub- 
sequent life  seems  to  have  been  devoted  to  acting  and  to  dra- 
matic composition,  performing  at  home  and  abroad  with  varied 
success.  Of  the  famous  poem,  «« Home,  Sweet  Home,"  one 
hundred  thousand  copies  had  been  sold  up  to  1832  by  the 
original  publishers,  and  it  is  known  and  sung  the  world  over. 
He  was  for  several  years  United  States  Consul  to  Tunis,  and 
died  in  1852. 


106        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Sweet  Home ;"  also  Talma,*  the  great  French 
tragedian,  and  Kenney,  an  Irish  dramatic  writer 
of  some  note,  author  of  "  Raising  the  Wind/'  a 
farce  in  which  figures  "Jeremy  Diddler,"  one 
of  the  most  famous  characters  of  humorous 
fiction. 

Just  previous  to  leaving  Paris  he  also  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Bancroft,!  the  historian, 

*  Talma  was  born  in  Paris  in  1763,  and  died  there  in  1826. 
He  was  eminent  as  an  actor  of  tragedy,  to  which  art  he  gave 
his  main  attention. 

t  George  Bancroft  is  a  native  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  born  in 
1800,  studied  at  Exeter  and  Cambridge,  graduated  at  seven- 
teen, embarked  for  Europe,  entered  the  University  of  Got- 
tingen,  where  for  two  years  he  pursued  an  extensive  plan  of 
study,  comprising  German,  French,  and  Italian  literature, 
Oriental  languages,  civil,  ecclesiastical,  and  natural  history, 
Greek  and  Roman  literature  and  antiquities,  and  Greek  Phi- 
losophy.  He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  at 
twenty  years  of  age,  and  in  the  following  spring  he  com- 
menced traveling  through  various  parts  of  Europe,  and  con- 
versed with  many  learned  and  eminent  men.  Returning  home 
in  1822  he  served  a  year  as  tutor  at  Harvard,  and  in  1823,  in 
connection  with  Dr.  Cogswell,  established  the  "  Round  Hill" 
school  at  Northampton,  a  classical  school  of  high  standing. 
In  1834  he  published  the  first  volume  of  his  History  of  the 
United  States,  which  has  up  to  this  date  (1869)  reached  the 
ninth  volume.  It  has  received  great  applause,  although  the 
last  volume  has  been  severely  criticised  owing  to  its  alleged 
injustice  to  one  or  two  Revolutionary  officers.  Mr.  Bancroft 
was  in  President  Polk's  cabinet,  and  through  his  influence  the 
Naval  School  was  established.  From  1846  to  1849  he  was 
United  States  Minister  to  England. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         107 

who  was  then  traveling  in  Europe.  He  speaks 
of  other  interesting  acquaintances  acquired  at 
Paris,  so  that  his  society  seems  to  have  been 
fully  as  extensive  as  was  consistent  with  the 
special  purpose  of  his  residence  there. 


108        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

MR.  IRVING,  though  having  designed  to 
proceed  immediately  on  his  continental 
travels,  suddenly  changed  his  purpose,  and  in 
July,  1821,  started  on  his  return  to  England, 
and  reached  London  on  the  day  previous  to  the 
coronation  of  George  IV.  From  a  position 
outside  Westminster  Abbey  he  witnessed  the 
grand  procession  passing  in.  Meeting  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott  on  the  following  day,  and  telling  him 
of  his  success  in  witnessing  the  display,  and 
that  he  knew  not  how  to  manage  to  secure 
admission  within  the  Abbey,  "Tut,  mon,"  re- 
plied Scott,  "you  should  have  told  them  who 
you  were,  and  you  would  have  got  in  any- 
where." 

After  a  brief  stay  in  London  he  proceeded, 
in  company  with  the  artist  Leslie,  to  Birming- 
ham, on  a  visit  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Van  Wart. 
Their  first  day's  ride  brought  them  to  Oxford, 
where  a  violent  rain  during  all  the  following 
day  confined  them  to  the  inn.  As  they  mounted 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         109 

the  coach  on  the  following  morning  Leslie  re- 
marked to  Irving  something  about  a  certain  stout 
gentleman  who  had  accompanied  them  to  Oxford 
two  days  before.  This  was  the  suggestive  hint 
that  gave  birth  to  the  story  of  "  The  Stout  Gen- 
tleman." The  idea  seized  strongly  and  at  once 
the  fancy  of  Irving,  and  at  every  opportunity 
as  they  went  on  their  journey  his  pen  was 
working  with  the  greatest  rapidity,  so  that  by 
the  time  they  reached  Birmingham  the  sketch 
was  nearly  finished. 

All  this  might  be  ranked  among  the  "  Curiosi- 
ties of  Literature ;"  and  yet,  doubtless,  the  history 
of  literature  would  reveal  to  us  multitudes  of 
similar  examples.  A  single  word,  or  glance,  or 
walk,  or  dream  has  proved  the  slight  germ  of 
some  beautiful  or  stately  growth  ;  nor  is  this  to 
be  set  down  as  merely  casual  or  accidental.  A 
great  yet  secret  providence  has  more  to  do  with 
the  human  mini,  and  its  driftings  and  inspira- 
tions, than  short-sighted  people  ever  come  to 
discern.  "  Think  with  yourself,"  says  the  judi- 
cious and  pious  Dr.  Watts,  "how  easily  and 
how  insensibly  by  one  turn  of  thought  He  can 
lead  you  into  a  large  scene  of  useful  ideas  ;  he 
can  teach  you  to  lay  hold  on  a  clue  which  may 


1 10        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

guide  your  thoughts  with  safety  and  ease 
through  all  the  difficulties  of  an  intricate  sub- 
ject. Think  how  easily  the  Author  of  your 
being  can  direct  your  motions  by  his  provi- 
dence so  that  the  glance  of  an  eye,  or  a  word 
striking  the  ear,  or  a  sudden  turn  of  the  fancy, 
shall  conduct  you  to  a  train  of  happy  senti- 
ments. By  his  secret  and  supreme  method  of 
government  he  can  draw  you  to  read  such  a 
treatise,  or  converse  with  such  a  person,  as  may 
give  you  more  light  into  some  deep  subject  in 
an  hour  than  you  could  obtain  by  a  month  of 
your  own  solitary  labor.  Think  with  yourself 
with  how  much  ease  the  God  of  spirits  can  cast 
into  your  minds  some  useful  suggestion,  and 
give  a  happy  turn  to  your  own  thoughts,  or  the 
thoughts  of  those  with  whom  you  converse, 
whence  you  may  derive  unspeakable  light  and 
satisfaction  in  a  matter  that  has  long  puzzled 
and  entangled  you  ;  he  can  show  you  a  path 
which  the  vulture's  eye  has  not  seen,  and  lead 
you,  by  some  unknown  gate  or  portal,  out  of  a 
wilderness  and  labyrinth  of  difficulties  wherein 
you  have  been  long  wandering."* 

This  visit  of  Irving  to  his  sister  proved  un- 
*  Watts  on  the  Improvement  of  the  Mind. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         in 

fortunate,  he  being  detained  there  about  four 
months  by  ill  health,  which  effectually  prevented 
him  from  the  use  of  his  pen.  The  tidings  re- 
ceived during  this  interval,  of  the  death  of  a 
niece  and  of  his  brother  William,  greatly  added 
to  his  affliction.  His  brother's  death  especially 
was  a  severe  bereavement.  He  had  anticipated 
the  sad  event,  but  when  the  news  actually  came 
h  i  describes  it  as  "  one  of  the  dismalest  blows 
h  *  had  ever  experienced."  This  brother,  being 
t  ne  eldest,  seems  to  have  been  as  a  kind  father 
to  all  his  junior  brothers,  and  "  a  man  full  of 
worth  and  talents,  beloved  in  private  and  hon- 
ored in  public  life."  After  about  four  months 
of  invalid  life  with  his  sister  at  Birmingham 
Mr.  Irving  returned  to  London,  his  health  yet 
unrestored.  He  soon,  however,  sent  for  publi- 
cation at  New  York  the  first  volume  of  Brace- 
bridge  Hall.  The  second  volume  soon  followed 
and  the  work  appeared  in  New  York,  May  2ist, 
1822,  and  in  London  two  days  later. 


112         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

"  T>RACEBRIDGE  HALL"  may  be  con- 
•*-'  sidered  a  sort  of  continuation  of  the 
Sketch  Book,  and  comprises  various  descrip- 
tions, essays,  and  tales  relating  to  English  char- 
acter and  habits,  and  especially  as  applicable 
to  the  olden  time.  The  position  of  the  author 
is  that  of  a  resident,  for  the  time,  at  the  "  Hall ;" 
and  many  of  the  incidents  and  scenes  of  one 
and  another  sketch  or  tale  seem  to  have  arisen 
to  his  observation  during  his  agreeable  sojourn 
there. 

Lady  Lillycraft,  for  example,  a  visitor  to  the 
Hall,  has  brought  with  her  two  pet  dogs  which 
are  pictured  thus  :  "  One  is  a  fat  spaniel  called 
Zephyr,  though  heaven  defend  me  from  such  a 
Zephyr  !  He  is  fed  out  of  all  shape  and  com- 
fort ;  his  eyes  are  nearly  strained  out  of  his 
head ;  he  wheezes  with  corpulency,  and  cannot 
walk  without  great  difficulty.  The  other  is  a 
little,  old,  gray,  muzzled  curmudgeon,  with  an  un- 
happy eye  that  kindles  like  -  a  coal  if  you  only 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          1 1 3 

look  at  him  ;  his  nose  turns  up,  his  mouth  is 
drawn  into  wrinkles  so  as  to  show  his  teeth  ;  in 
short,  he  has  altogether  the  look  of  a  dog  far 
gone  in  misanthropy,  and  totally  sick  of  the 
world.  When  he  walks  he  has  his  tail  curled 
up  so  tight  that  it  seems  to  lift  his  feet  from  the 
ground  ;  and  he  seldom  makes  use  of  more  than 
three  legs  at  a  time,  keeping  the  other  drawn 
up  as  a  reserve.  This  last  wretch  is  called 
Beauty. 

"  These  dogs  are  full  of  elegant  ailments  un- 
known to  vulgar  dogs,  and  are  petted  and  nursed 
by  Lady  Lillycraft  with  the  tenderest  kindness. 
They  have  cushions  for  their  express  use  on 
which  they  lie  before  the  fire,  and  yet  are  apt  to 
shiver  and  moan  if  there  is  the  least  draught  of 
air.  When  any  one  enters  the  room  they  make 
a  most  tyrannical  barking  that  is  absolutely 
deafening.  They  are  insolent  to  all  the  other 
dogs  of  the  establishment.  There  is  a  noble 
stag-hound,  a  great  favorite  of  the  squires,  who 
is  a  privileged  visitor  to  the  parlor  ;  but  the  mo- 
ment he  makes  his  appearance  these  intruders 
fly  at  him  with  furious  rage,  and  I  have  admired 
the  sovereign  indifference  and  contempt  with 

which  he  seems  to  look  down  upon  his  puny 
8 


1 14        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

assailants.  When  her  ladyship  drives  out,  these 
dogs  are  generally  carried  with  her  to  take  the 
air,  when  they  look  out  of  each  window  of  the 
carriage,  and  bark  at  all  vulgar  pedestrian  dogs." 

The  following  extracts  from  the  chapter  on 
"Family  Reliques"  is  interesting  as  well  for 
the  moral  involved  as  for  its  beauty.  The  writer 
alludes,  among  other  things,  to  the  picture  gal- 
lery of  the  Hall  as  abounding  most  with  me- 
mentoes of  past  times  : 

11  There  is  something  strangely  pleasing, 
though  melancholy,  in  considering  the  long 
rows  of  portraits  which  compose  the  greater 
part  of  the  collection.  They  furnish  a  kind  of 
narrative  of  the  lives  of  family  worthies,  which 
I  am  enabled  to  read  with  the  assistance  of  the 
venerable  housekeeper,  who  is  the  family  chroni- 
cler, prompted  occasionally  by  Master  Simon. 
There  is  the  progress  of  a  fine  lady,  for  instance, 
through  a  variety  of  portraits.  One  represents 
her  as  a  little  girl  with  a  long  waist  and  hoop, 
holding  a  kitten  in  her  arms,  and  ogling  the 
spectator  out  of  the  corners  of  her  eyes,  as  if  she 
could  not  turn  her  head.  In  another  we  find 
her  in  the  freshness  of  youthful  beauty,  when 
she  was  a  celebrated  belle,  and  so  hard-hearted 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         \  1 5 

as  to  cause  several  unfortunate  gentlemen  to 
run  desperate  and  write  bad  poetry.  In  another 
she  is  depicted  as  a  stately  dame  in  the  ma- 
turity of  her  charms  ;  next  to  the  portrait  of  her 
husband  is  a  gallant  colonel,  in  full-bottomed 
wig  and  gold-laced  hat,  who  was  killed  abroad ; 
and,  finally,  her  monument  is  in  the  church,  the 
spire  of  which  may  be  seen  from  the  window, 
where  her  effigy  is  carved  in  marble,  and  repre- 
sents her  as  a  venerable  dame  of  seventy-six, 

"  There  is  one  group  that  particularly  inter- 
ested me.  It  consisted  of  four  sisters  of  nearly 
the  same  age,  who  flourished  about  a  century 
since  ;  and,  if  I  may  judge  from  their  portraits, 
were  extremely  beautiful.  I  can  imagine  what 
a  scene  of  gayety  and  romance  this  old  mansion 
must  have  been  when  they  were  in  the  heyday 
of  their  charms  ;  when  they  passed  like  beauti- 
ful visions  through  its  halls,  or  stepped  daintily 
to  music  in  the  revels  and  dances  of  the  cedar 
gallery,  or  printed  with  delicate  feet  the  velvet 
verdure  of  these  lawns. 

"  When  I  look  at  these  faint  records  of  gal- 
lantry and  tenderness  ;  when  I  contemplate  the 
faded  portraits  of  these  beautiful  girls,  and  think, 
too,  that  they  have  long  since  bloomed,  reigned, 


Ii6        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

grown  old,  died,  and  passed  away,  and  with.them 
all  their  graces,  their  triumphs,  their  rivalries, 
their  admirers ;  the  whole  empire  of  love  and 
pleasure  in  which  they  ruled — 'all  dead,   all 
buried,  all  forgotten* — I  find  a  cloud  of  melan- 
choly stealing  over  the  present  gayeties  around 
me.     I  was  gazing  in  a  musing  mood  this  very 
morning  at  the  portrait  of  the  lady  whose  hus- 
band was  killed  abroad,  when  the  fair  Julia  en- 
tered  the  gallery  leaning  on   the  arm  of  the 
captain.     The  sun  shone  through  the  row  of 
windows  on  her  as  she  passed  along,  and  she 
seemed  to  beam  out  each  time  into  brightness, 
and  relapse  into  shade,  until  the  door  at  the 
bottom  of  the  gallery  closed  after  her.     I  felt  a 
sadness  of  heart  at  the  idea  that  this  was  an 
emblem  of  her  lot ;  a  few  more  years  of  sunshine 
and  shade,  and  all  this  life  and  loveliness  and 
enjoyment  will  have  ceased,  and  nothing  be  left 
to  commemorate  this   beautiful  being  but  one 
more  perishable  portrait,  to  awaken,  perhaps,  the 
trite   speculations  of  some  future  loiterer  like 
myself,  when  I  and  my  scribblings  shall  have 
lived   through   our   brief  existence    and    been 
forgotten." 

In  the  "Stout  Gentleman"  is  a  picture  of 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         117 

things  with  a  feverish  man  confined  during  a 
wet  Sunday  at  a  country  inn  : 

"  A  wet  Sunday  in  a  country  inn  !    Who- 
ever has  had  the  luck  to  experience  one  can 
alone  judge  of  my  situation.    The  rain  pattered 
against  the  casements,  the  bells  tolled  for  church 
with  a  melancholy  sound.     I  went  to  the  win- 
dows in  quest  of  something  to  amuse  the  eye, 
but  it  seemed  as  if  I  had  been  placed  out  of  the 
reach  of  all  amusement.     The  windows  of  my 
bedroom    looked   out    among   tiled    roofs   and 
stacks  of  chimneys,  while  those  of  my  sitting- 
room  commanded  a  full  view  of  the  stable-yard. 
I  know  of  nothing  more  calculated  to  make  a 
man  sick  of  this  world  than  a  stable-yard  on  a 
rainy  day.     The  place  was  littered  with  wet 
straw  that  had  been  kicked  about  by  travelers 
and  stable  boys.     In  one  corner  was  a  stagnant 
pool  of  water  surrounding  an  island  of  muck. 
There  were  several  half-drowned  fowls  crowded 
together  under  a  cart,  among  which  was  a  mis- 
erable crest-fallen  cock,  drenched  out  of  all  life 
and  spirit,  his  drooping  tail  matted,  as  it  were, 
into  a  single  feather,  along  which  the  water 
trickled  from  his  back.     Near  the  cart  was  a 
half-dozing  cow,  chewing  the  cud  and  standing 


y 
1 1 8        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

patiently  to  be  rained  on,  with  wreaths  of  vapor 
rising  from  her  reeking  hide.  A  wall-eyed 
horse,  tired  of  the  loneliness  of  the  stable,  was 
poking  his  spectral  head  out  of  a  window,  with 
the  rain  dropping  on  it  from  the  eaves.  An 
unhappy  cur,  chained  to  a  dog-house  hard  by, 
uttered  something  every  now  and  then  between 
a  bark  and  a  yelp.  A  drab  of  a  kitchen  wench 
tramped  backward  and  forward  through  the 
yard  in  pattens,  looking  as  sulky  as  the  weather 
itself.  Every  thing,  in  short,  was  comfortless 
and  forlorn,  excepting  a  crew  of  hard-drinking 
ducks,  assembled  like  boon  companions  round 
a  puddle,  and  making  a  riotous  noise  over  their 
liquor." 

The  "  Edinburgh  Review  "  thus  glances  at  a 
few  other  pieces  of  the  "Bracebridge  Hall" 
miscellany : 

" '  Ready  Money  Jack '  is  admirable  through- 
out, and  the  old  general  very  good.  The  lovers 
are,  as  usual,  the  most  insipid. 

"  The  '  Gypsies '  are  sketched  with  infinite 
elegance  as  well  as  spirit,  and  Master  Simon  is 
quite  delightful  in  all  the  varieties  of  his  ever- 
versatile  character. 

"  Of  the  tales  which  serve  to  fill  up  the  vol- 


Mefnoir  of  Washington  Irving.         1 19 

umes,  that  of  *  Dolph  Heyliger '  is  incomparably 
the  best,  and  is  more  characteristic,  perhaps, 
both  of  the  author's  turn  of  imagination  and 
cast  of  humor  than  any  thing  else  in  the  work. 
" '  The  Student  of  Salamanca '  is  too  long, 
and  deals  rather  largely  in  the  common-places 
of  romantic  adventure." 


120        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

"  T)RACEBRIDGE  HALL"  being  off  his 
-LJ  hands,  Mr.  Irving  gave  himself  a  season 
of  relaxation,  and,  receiving  numerous  invita- 
tions from  fashionable  people  in  London  and 
vicinity,  he  passed  the  succeeding  summer  as 
gayly  as  the  imperfect  condition  of  his  health 
would  permit.     Early  in  autumn  he  embarked 
for  Holland.     Spending  several  days  at  Rotter- 
dam, the  Hague,  Amsterdam,  and  one  or  two 
other  places,  he  ascended  the  Rhine  to  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  to  enjoy  the  use  of  the  baths.     He 
also  spent  a  short  time  at  Mayence,  Frankfort, 
and    Heidelberg.      He   was   greatly  delighted 
with  the  scenery  of  the  Rhine,  and  the  fruitful- 
ness  and  beauty  of  the  country  generally ;  while 
the  atmosphere,  as   he  inhaled  it,  seemed  to 
exert  an  invigorating  and  balmy  influence  upon 
his  physical  system.      He  afterward  journeys 
farther  up  the  Rhine,  enjoys  the  baths  of  Ba- 
den, and  is  charmed  with  the  delightful  scenery 
every-where  presented  to  view.     He  then  sets 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         1 2 1 

his  face  eastwarcj  toward  Vienna.  Passing  the 
Black  Forest,  and  crossing  Wirtemberg  to  Saltz- 
burg,  he  for  a  few  days  refreshed  himself  with 
various  little  excursions,  visited  the  famous  salt 
works,  looked  with  pleasure  upon  the  Tyrolese 
mountains  stretching  along  the  south,  and  al- 
ready (Oct.  i)  capped  with  snow,  and  pro- 
nounced Saltzburg  one  of  the  most  romantic 
spots  which  he  had  ever  beheld.  Thence,  after 
a  few  days,  he  resumed  his  journey,  and,  travel- 
ing all  night,  he  was  the  next  day  at  Vienna. 

This  great  and  opulent  capital  was  not  to  his 
taste.  He  found  it  a  city  given  to  luxury  and 
dissipation  rather  than  devoted  to  more  ele- 
vated pursuits,  and  after  a  brief  stay,  with  one 
or  two  excursions  abroad,  he  took  leave  for 
Dresden  on  the  i8th  of  November.  The  tedi- 
ous complaint  which  had  so  long  afflicted  him 
was  now  almost  entirely  healed,  and  brighter 
prospects  than  before  seemed  opening  before 
him.  On  the  fifth  day,  after  traversing  a  rude 
and  gloomy  country,  he  reached  Prague,  whence 
two  and  a  half  days  more  brought  him  to  Dres- 
den. The  whole  aspect  of  things  suddenly 
changes  as  he  passes  from  Bohemia  and  de- 
scends the  mountains  into  Saxony,  and  excel- 


122         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

lent  roads,  pleasant  farm-houses,  rosy  gleams 
on  the  still  waters  of  the  Elbe,  the  fishing 
boats,  the  balmy  skies,  joined  with  a  view  of 
the  distant  city,  with  its  cluster  of  spires  and 
domes,  all  combine  to  throw  an  air  of  enchant- 
ment around  the  closing  hours  of  his  journey. 
Dresden  was  his  home  for  six  months,  and 
seems  to  have  proved  a  delightful  residence. 
His  literary  fame  had  preceded  him,  and  he 
was  at  once  introduced  to  the  first  society  of 
the  place. 

Irving  was  at  this  time  in  his  fortieth  year, 
and  we  have  the  following  description  of  him  as 
he  now  appeared  by  one  of  his  Dresden  friends, 
an  English  lady  sojourning  there : 

41  He  was  thoroughly  a  gentleman,  not  merely 
externally  in  manners  and  look,  but  to  the  inner- 
most fibers  and  core  of  his  heart.  Sweet  tem- 
pered, gentle,  fastidious,  sensitive,  and  gifted 
with  the  warmest  affections,  the  most  delightful 
and  invariably  interesting  companion,  gay  and 
full  of  humor,  even  in  spite  of  occasional  fits  of 
melancholy,  which  he  was,  however,  seldom 
subject  to  when  with  those  he  liked — a  gift  of 
conversation  that  flowed  like  a  full  river  of  sun- 
shine, bright,  easy,  and  abundant." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  123 

.  Mr.  Irving  was  soon  presented  by  the  British 
Minister  to  the  royal  family,  comprising  the  King 
and  Queen,  two  brothers,  two  daughters,  and 
two  grandsons  with  their  wives.  With  all  these, 
together  with  foreign  dignitaries  resident  at 
Court,  Irving  seems  to  have  associated  as  an 
equal  ;  and  he  participates  in  royal  visits,  re- 
ceptions, dinings,  balls,  soirees,  huntings,  etc., 
as  fully  and  freely  as  if  himself  were  of  regular 
royal  descent.  "  I  have  been,"  he  writes  to  his 
brother  Peter,  "  most  hospitably  received,  and 
even  caressed,  in  this  little  capital,  and  have 
experienced  nothing  but  the  most  marked  kind- 
ness from  the  King  downward.  My  reception, 
indeed,  at  Court  has  been  peculiarly  flat- 
tering, and  every  branch  of  the  royal  family  has 
taken  occasion  to  show  me  particular  attention 
whenever  I  made  my  appearance." 

Among  his  most  select  and  pleasant  associates 
at  Dresden  were  the  Fosters,  an  English  family 
of  rank,  comprising  mother  and  two  daughters, 
the  latter  being  educated  there.  In  this  delight- 
ful little  circle  Irving  early  became  an  intimate, 
and  their  house  was  to  him  a  sunny  and  attract- 
ive home.  With  their  assistance  he  diligently 
improved  himself  in  the  French  and  Italian 


124        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

languages,  while   among  his  pleasant  amuse- 
ments were"  the  private  theatricals  gotten  up 
and  performed  at  the  Fosters',  and  in  which 
Irving  and  a  few  English  residents  participated. 
It  may  well  be  supposed   that  with  all  the 
flattering  attentions  which  Mr.  Irving  received 
at  Dresden,  and  the  frequent  amusements  in 
which  he  mingled,  his  pen  would  be  likely  to 
make  but  little  progress.      His  own  confession 
corroborates  such  an  inference.     "  I  wish,"   he 
writes  to  a  sister,  "  I  could  give  you  a  good 
account  of  my  literary  labors  ;  but  I  have  noth- 
ing to  report.     I  am  merely  seeing  and  hearing, 
and  my  mind  seems  in  too  crowded  and  con- 
fused a  condition  to  produce  any  thing."   Thus, 
aside  from  his  progress  in  the  French,  Italian, 
and  German  languages,  his  winter's  work  seems 
to  have  amounted  to  but  little.     We  have  from 
him  another  confession,  and  one  of  great  impor- 
tance, as  he  is  about  to  leave  Dresden.     In  a 
letter  to  Mrs.  Foster,  after  reviewing  the  pleas- 
ant evenings  he  had  enjoyed  at  her  home,  he 
adds  that  he  would  not  give  one  such  evening 
for  all  the. routs  and  assemblies  of  the  fashion- 
able world  ;  that  he  was  weary  and  sick  of  fash- 
ionable life  and  fashionable  parties ;    that  he 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         125 

had  never  submitted  himself  to  this  current 
for  a  time  but  he  had  ultimately  been  cast  ex- 
hausted and  spiritless  upon  the  shore.  He 
remarks  with  pain  upon  the  sacrifice  of  the 
nobler  and  better  feelings  in  this  kind  of  inter- 
course. "  We  crowd  together  in  cities,"  says  he, 
"and  bring  down  our  minds  to  the  routine  of 
visits  and  formalities,  and  associate  ourselves 
with  littleness  and  insipidity,  and  '  say  unto  the 
worm,  Thou  art  my  brother  and  my  sister/  We 
subject  ourselves  to  the  claims  and  importunities 
of  people  we  dislike,  and  the  censorship  of 
people  whom  we  despise.  The  whole  swarm 
of  insects  that  buzz  around  us  cannot  administer 
to  our  pleasure ;  but  one  by  his  paltry  sting 
may  torment  us." 

It  may  not  be  necessary  to  moralize  exten- 
sively upon  a  confession  like  this,  uttered  by 
one  like  Irving — a  man  already  famous,  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  moving  in  the  very  highest 
circles,  flattered  and  caressed  as  extensively  as 
he  was  known.  But  we  can  scarcely  refrain 
from  reverting  to  another  confession  following 
a  course  of  prosperity  the  most  magnificent 
possible,  of  which  confession  we  have  the  for* 
mula  following : 


126         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"  Then  I  looked  on  all  the  works  that  my 
hands  had  wrought,  and  on  the  labor  that  I  had 
labored  to  do :  and,  behold,  all  was  vanity  and 
vexation  of  spirit,  and  there  was  no  profit  under 
the  sun." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         127 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HAVING  passed  about  eight  months  at 
Dresden,  -Mr.  Irving  departed  for  Paris 
about  the  middle  of  July.  The  Fosters  left  at 
the  same  time  on  their  return  to  England,  and 
Irving  accompanied  them,  as  a  sort  of  escort 
and  protector,  as  far  as  Rotterdam.  Having 
seen  these,  his  dear  friends,  safely  embarked  for 
London,  he  immediately  pursued  his  journey, 
and  reached  Paris  early  in  August. 

His  miscellaneous  mode  of  life  for  so  long  a 
time  had  its  effect  upon  him,  and  it  was  with 
some  difficulty  that  he  could  settle  his  mind  to 
any  weighty  and  steady  literary  pursuit.  He 
passed  the  autumn  in  some  dramatic  efforts, 
which  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Payne  he  was 
induced,  in  company  with  the  latter,  to  under- 
take. These  consisted  of  the  translation 
and  recasting  of  certain  French  plays,  to  be 
modified  and  fitted  to  the  English  stage.  It 
was  stipulated  that  living's  name  should  not 
appear  in  connection  with  these  productions, 


128         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

which  were  afterward  acted  with  success  in 
London. 

The  ensuing  winter  seems  to  have  passed 
without  much  literary  labor.  His  journal  pre- 
sents him  as  reading  various  authors,  dining 
with  various  friends,  and  giving  less  attention 
to  theaters  than  formerly.  We  find  him  engaged 
in  some  revision  of  "  Salmagundi "  for  a  French 
publisher.  The  same  publisher,  Galignani,  pro- 
poses to  him  the  getting  up  of  an  edition  of 
English  authors,  accompanied  with  biographical 
sketches.  Irving  accepts  the  proposition,  stipu- 
lating for  two  hundred  and  fifty  francs  per 
volume,  and  at  once  commenced  on  this  new 
enterprise,  beginning  with  a  life  of  Goldsmith. 

In  the  spring  he  arranges,  by  correspond- 
ence with  his  London  publisher,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  his  forthcoming  "  Tales  of  a  Traveler," 
for  four  thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  The 
manuscript  was  partly  prepared,  and  after  the 
arrangement  with  his  publisher  he  seems  to 
have  proceeded  more  diligently  than  before  with 
the  work — at  the  same  time  giving  encourage- 
ment to  his  publisher  that  it  would  excel  any  of 
his  former  works. 

At  the  end  of  spring  he  leaves  Paris  for 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         1 29 

London,  where  he  was  invited  by  the  poet 
Spencer  *  to  take  lodgings  with  him.  He  also 
enjoys  pleasant  relations  with  the  poet  Rogers,f 
with  whom  he  had  frequent  interesting  conver- 
sations. In  June  he  spends  some  days  at  the 
manor-house  of  Mr.  Compton,  "a  complete 
specimen  of  a  complete  country  gentleman." 
Here  he  is  greatly  delighted  with  the  scenery, 
residence,  and  its  occupants.  Thence  he  goes 
to  Bath,  where  he  again  meets  his  friend  Moore, 
and  accompanies  him  to  his  beautiful  cottage  a 
few  miles  away.  After  a  brief  visit  with  his 

tf  William  Robert  Spencer  was  the  grandson  of  the  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  born  in  1769,  was  a  wit  and  man  of  fashion. 
His  poems  were  principally  ballads  and  occasional  pieces,  some 
of  which  are  of  special  elegance.  He  died  in  Paris  in  1834, 
and  in  the  following  year  his  poems,  with  a  memoir,  were 
collected  and  published. 

t Samuel  Rogers  was  born  in  1763.  His  "Pleasures  of 
Memory"  first  gave  him  a  place  among  English  poets. 
Besides  this,  his  "  Voyage  of  Columbus"  "  Jacqueline," 
"  Human  Life,*'  and  "  Italy,"  were  his  principal  poetic  pro- 
ductions. He  was  offered  the  laureateship  on  the  death 
of  Wordsworth,  which,  by  reason  of  his  advanced  age,  he 
declined.  . 

Rogers  was  a  gentleman  of  fortune  and  ample  hospitalities 
and  for  half  a  century  his  house  was  a  favorite  resort  of  literary 
men.  He  seems  to  have  written  slowly,  the  "  Pleasures  of 
Memory  "  occupying  him  nine  years,  (about  eighty  lines  a  year. ) 
"  Human  Life  "  about  the  same  time,  and  "  Italy  "  sixteen 
years.  He  retained  his  faculties  to  near  the  close  of  life,  dying 
in  1855,  at  the  age  of  ninety-two. 

e 


130        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

sister  and  family  at  Birmingham,  he  spends 
several  days  with  his  Dresden  friends,  the  Fos- 
ters, at  their  residence  near  Bedford,  where  of 
course  he  is  received  with  the  most  cordial  wel- 
come. He  subsequently  makes  a  hasty  excur- 
sion to  Yorkshire. 

Amid  these  various  summer  visits  and  move- 
ments Irving  was  giving  the  finishing  touches 
to  his  new  work  and  passing  it  through  the 
press.  Having  corrected  the  last  proof-sheet, 
and  completed  the  financial  arrangements  with 
his  publisher,  he  immediately  left  London,  and 
two  days  afterward  he  was  at  his  lodgings,  a 
few  miles  out  from  Paris. 

The  "  Tales  of  a  Traveler  "  was  published  in 
London,  August  25.  Its  publication  at  New 
York  was  in  four  numbers,  ranging  from  Au- 
gust 24  to  October  9,  at  which  date  the  Ameri- 
can edition  was  completed. 

In  a  very  prompt  letter  from  Moore  is  the 
following  :  "  Your  book  is  delightful.  I  never 
can  answer  for  what  the  public  will  like,  but  if 
they  do  not  devour  this  with  their  best  appetite 
then  is  good  writing,  good  fun,  good  sense, 
and  all  other  goods  of  authorship  thrown  away 
upon  them." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         131 

But  men,  alas !  and  even  friends,  do  not  al- 
ways tell  an  author  their  inmost  thoughts 
touching  the  efforts  of  his  pen.  This  same 
Moore  about  the  same  time  thus  enters  in  his 
diary  :  "  Irving  read  me  some  parts  of  his  new 
work,  '  Tales  of  a  Traveler/  Rather  tremble 
for  its  fate."  In  fact,  as  a  general  thing,  this 
work  was  received  by  the  English  public  with 
less  favor  than  its  two  predecessors,  and  it  was 
severely  criticised  in  several  of  the  British  Re- 
views. The  "  London  Quarterly "  finds  little 
to  commend  save  Buchthorne's  autobiography, 
which  is  pronounced  to  be  excellent,  while 
most  of  the  remaining  pieces  are  little  else  than 
"  the  sweepings  of  the  Sketch  Book." 

Buckthorne's  visit  in  his  mature  years  to  his 
native  village  will  call  up  meetings  and  memo- 
ries similar  to  his  in  more  minds  than  one. 

"As  I  w£s  rambling  pensively  through  a 
neighboring  meadow,  in  which  I  had  many  a 
time  gathered  primroses,  I  met  the  very  peda- 
gogue who  had  been  the  tyrant  and  dread  of 
my  boyhood.  I  had  sometimes  vowed  to  my- 
self, when  suffering  under  his  rod,  that  I  would 
have  my  revenge  if  I  ever  met  him  when  I  had 
grown  to  be  a  man.  The  time  had  come,  but  I 


132         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

had  no  disposition  to  keep  my  vow.  The  few 
years  which  had  matured  me  into  a  vigorous 
man  had  shrunk  him  into  decrepitude.  He  ap- 
peared to  have  had  a  paralytic  stroke.  I  looked 
at  him,  and  wondered  that  this  poor,  helpless 
mortal  could  have  been  an  object  of  terror  to  me ; 
that  I  should  have  watched  with  anxiety  the 
glance  of  that  failing  eye,  or  dreaded  the  power 
of  that  trembling  hand.  He  tottered  feebly 
along  the  path,  and  had  some  difficulty  in  get- 
ting over  a  stile.  I  ran  and  assisted  him.  He 
looked  at  me  with  surprise,  but  did  not  recog- 
nize me,  and  made  a  low  bow  of  humility  and 
thanks.  I  had  no  disposition  to  make  myself 
known,  for  I  felt  that  I  had  nothing  to  boast  of. 
The  pains  he  had  taken  and  the  pains  he  had 
inflicted  had  been  equally  useless.  His  re- 
peated predictions  had  been  fully  verified,  and 
I  felt  that  little  Jack  Buckthorne,  the  idle  boy, 
had  grown  to  be  a  very  good-for-nothing  man." 

Farther  on  are  portrayed  Buckthorne's  visit  to 
his  mother's  grave,  and  his  experiences  there. 

"I  sought  my  mother's  grave.  The  weeds 
were  already  matted  over  it,  and  the  tombstone 
was  half  hid  among  nettles.  I  cleared  them 
away,  and  they  stung  my  hands  ;  but  I  was 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         133 

heedless  of  the  pain,  for  my  heart  ached  too 
severely.  I  sat  down  on  the  grave  and  read 
over  and  over  again  the  epitaph  on  the  stone. 

"  It  was  simple,  but  it  was  true.     I  had  writ- 
ten it  myself.     I  had  tried  to  write  a  poetical 
epitaph,  but  in  vain.     My  feelings  refused  to 
utter   themselves    in   rhyme.      My  heart  had 
gradually  been  filling  during  my  lonely  wander- 
ings ;  it  was  now  charged  to  the  brim  and  over- 
flowed.    I  sank  upon  the  grave,  and  buried  my 
face  in  the  tall  grass,  and  wept  like  a  child. 
Yes,  I  wept  in  manhood  upon  the  grave  as  I 
had  in  infancy  upon  the  bosom  of  my  mother. 
Alas !  how  little  do  we  appreciate  a  mother's 
tenderness  while  living !     How  heedless  are  we 
in  youth  of  all  her  anxieties  and  kindness ! 
But  when  she  is  dead  and  gone,  when  the  cares 
and  coldness  of  the  world  come  withering  to 
our  hearts,  when  we  find  how  hard  it  is  to  find 
true  sympathy — how  few  love  us  for  ourselves, 
how  few  will  befriend  us  in  our  misfortunes — 
then  it  is  that  we  think  of  the  mother  we  have 
lost.     It  is  true  I  had  always  loved  my  mother, 
even  in  my  most  heedless  days  ;  but  I  felt  how 
inconsiderate  and  ineffectual  had  been  my  love. 
My  heart  melted  as  I  retraced  the  days  of  in- 


134        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

fancy,  when  I  was  led  by  a  mother's  hand,  and 
rocked  to  sleep  in  a  mother's  arms,  and  was 
without  care  or  sorrow.  '  O  my  mother  ! '  ex- 
claimed I,  burying  my  face  again  in  the  grass 
of  the  grave  ;  '  O  that  I  were  once  more  by 
your  side,  sleeping  never  to  wake  again  on  the 
cares  and  troubles  of  this  world !'" 


Menwir  of  Washington  Irving.         135 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

"  T}LACKWOOD"  for  January,  1825,  in- 
-U  dulges  in  a  sort  of  sweeping  and  amus- 
ing resume  of  Irving  and  so  many  of  his  works 
as  have  thus  far  been  alluded  to,  and  compris- 
ing a  curious  intermingling  of  the  sweet  and 
bitter.  It  considers  that  the  author  had  been 
abused  by  overmuch  praise,  and  then  by  being 
treacherously  neglected  by  his  friends,  and  af- 
fects to  come  to  the  rescue  and  generously 
place  him  upon  his  true  position. 

"Yes,  it  is  time,"  says  'Blackwood/  (John 
Neal,)  "for  us  to  interpose.  We  throw  our 
shield  over  him,  therefore.  We  undertake, 
once  for  all,  to  see  fair  play.  Open  the  field, 
withdraw  the  rabble,  drive  back  the  dogs,  give 
him  fair  play,  and  we  will  answer  for  his  acquit- 
ting himself  like  a  man.  If  he  do  not,  why  let 
him  be  torn  to  pieces  and  be — 

"In  the  day  of  his  popularity  we  showed  him 
no  favor ;  in  this,  the  day  of  his  tribulation,  we 
shall  show  him  none.  He  does  not  require 


136        Memoir  of  Wasttington  Irving. 

any.  We  saw  his  faults  when  there  was  no- 
body else  to  see  them.  We  put  our  finger 
upon  the  sore  places  about  him  ;  drove  our 
weapon  home,  up  to  the  hilt,  wherever  we 
found  a  hole  in  his  beautiful  armor — a  joint 
visible  in  his  golden  harness  ;  treated  him,  in 
short,  as  he  deserves  to  be  treated,  like  a  man  ; 
but  we  have  never  done,  we  never  will  do  him 
wrong.  .  .  . 

"  One  word  of  his  life  and  personal  appear- 
ance (both  of  which  are  laughably  misrepre- 
sented) before  we  take  up  his  works.  He  was 
born,  we  believe,  in  the  city  of  New  York ;  began 
to  write  for  a  newspaper  at  an  early  age ;  read 
law,  but  gave  it  up  in  despair,  feeling,  as  Cow- 
per  did  before  him,  a  disqualifying  constitutional 
timidity  which  would  not  permit  him  to  go  out 
into  public  life  ;  engaged  in  mercantile  adven- 
ture ;  appeared  first  in  '  Salmagundi ;'  wrote 
some  articles  for  the  American  magazines ;  was 
unsuccessful  in  business  ;  embarked  for  En- 
gland, where,  since  he  came  to  be  popular,  any- 
body may  trace  him. 

"  He  is  now  in  his  fortieth  year  * — about  five 
feet  seven,  agreeable  countenance,  black  hair, 

0  Mistake  ;  in  his  forty-third  year. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         137 

manly  complexion  ;  fine  hazel  eyes  when  lighted 
up,  heavy  in  general ;  talks  better  than  he  writes 
when  worthily  excited,  but  falls  asleep,  literally 
asleep,  in  his  chair  at  a  formal  dinner  party  in 
high  life  ;  half  the  time  in  a  revery ;  a  little  im- 
pediment, a  sort  of  uneasy,  anxious,  catching 
inspiration  of  the  voice  when  talking  zealously  ; 
writes  a  small  neat  hand  like  Montgomery,  Allan 
Cunningham  or  Shea,  (it  is  like  that  of  each  ;) 
indolent,  nervous,  irritable,  easily  depressed, 
easily  disheartened,  very  amiable,  no  appear- 
ance of  special  refinement,  nothing  remarkable, 
nothing  uncommon  about  him ;  precisely  such  a 
man,  to  say  all  in  a  word,  as  people  would  con- 
tinually overlook,  pass  by  without  notice  or  forget 
after  dining  with  him,  unless,  peradventure,  his 
name  were  mentioned,  in  which  case,  odds-bobs ! 
they  are  all  able  to  recall  something  remarkable 
in  his  way  of  sitting,  eating,  or  looking,  though, 
like  Oliver  Goldsmith  himself,  he  had  never 
opened  his  mouth  while  they  were  near,  or  sat  in 
a  high  chair,  as  far  into  it  as  he  could  get,  with 
his  toes  just  reaching  the  floor. 

"  We  come  now  to  the  works  of  Geoffrey : 
"  I.  The  Newspaper  Essays. — Boyish,  theatrical 
criticisms,  nothing  more ;  foolishly  and  wickedly 


138        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

reproduced  by  some  base,  mercenary  country- 
man of  his,  from  the  rubbish  of  old  printing-offi- 
ces, put  forth  as  '  by  the  Author  of  the  Sketch- 
Book!     How  could  such  things  be  '  by  the  Au- 
thor of  the  Sketch-Book/  written,  as  they  were, 
twenty  years  before  the  Sketch-Book  was  thought 
of?     By  whom  were  they  written  ?     By  a  boy. 
Was  he  the  author  of  what  we  call  f  The  Sketch- 
Book  ? '    No.    The  Sketch-Book  was  written  by 
a  man,  a  full-grown  man.     Ergo,  the  American 
publisher  told  a  — .     Nevertheless,  there  is  a 
touch  of  Irving's  quality  in  these  pages,  paltry 
as  they  are  ;   a  little  of  that  happy,  sly  humor, 
that  grave   pleasantry,  (wherein  he  resembles 
Goldsmith  so  much,)  that  quiet,  shrewd,  good- 
humored  sense  of  the  ridiculous,  which  alto- 
gether, in  our  opinion,  go  to  make  up  the  chief 
excellence  of  Geoffrey,  that  which  will  outlive 
the  fashion  of  this  day,  and  set  him,  apart,  after 
all,  from  every  writer  in  our  language. 

"  Salamagundi ;  or  Whim-Whams. — It  is  a 
work  in  two  volumes  duodecimo ;  essays  after 
the  manner  of  Goldsmith — a  downright,  secret, 
labored,  continual  imitation  of  him,  abounding 
too  in  plagiarisms.  The  title  is  from  our  English 
Flim-Flams ;  Oriental  Papers,  The  Little  Man 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         139 

in  Black,  etc.,  from  the  '  Citizen  of  the  World  ;' 
Parts  are  capital ;  as  a  whole,  the  work  is  quite 
superior  to  any  thing  of  the  kind  which  this  age 
has  produced.  .  .  . 

"  Knickerbocker. — A  droll,  humorous  history 
of  New  York,  while  the  Dutch  who  settled  it 
were  in  power,  conceived,  matured,  and  brought 
forth  in  a  bold  original  temper,  unaided  and 
alone,  by  Irving  ;  more  entirely  the  natural 
thought,  language,  humor,  and  feeling  of  the 
man  himself,  without  imitation  or  plagiarism — far 
more — than  either  of  his  late  works.  It  is  written 
too  in  the  fervor  and  flush  of  his  popularity  at 
home,  after  he  had  got  a  name  such  as  no  other 
man  had  among  his  countrymen ;  after  Salma- 
gundi had  been  read  with  pleasure  all  over 
North  America.  In  it,  however,  there  is  a  world 
of  rich  allusion,  a  vein  of  sober  caricature,  the 
merit  of  which  is  little  understood  here.  Take 
an  example:  'Von  Poffenburg'  is  a  portrait — 
outrageously  distorted  on  some  accounts,  but, 
nevertheless,  a  portrait — of  General  Wilkinson, 
a  'bellipotent'  officer  who  sent  in  a  bill  to  Con- 
gress for  sugar-plums,  or  cigars,  or  both,  after 
'throwing  up' — in  disgust,  we  dare  say,  as  'he 
could  not  stomach  it' — his  military  command 


140        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

upon  the  Florida  frontier.  So,  too,  in  the  three 
Dutch  governors  we  could  point  out  a  multitude 
of  laughable  secret  allusions  to  three  of  the 
American  chief  magistrates — Adams,  Jefferson, 
Madison — which  have  not  always  been  well  un- 
derstood anywhere  by  any  body,  save  those  who 
are  familiar  with  American  history. 

"  By  nine  readers  out  of  ten,  perhaps,  Knick- 
erbocker is  read  as  a  piece  of  generous  drollery, 
nothing  more.  Be  it  so*  It  will  wear  the  better ; 
the  design  of  Irving  himself  is  not  always  clear, 
nor  was  he  always  undeviating  in  his  course. 
Truth  or  fable,  fact  or  falsehood,  it  was  all  the 
same  to  him  if  a  bit  of  material  came  in  his 
way. 

"  In  a  word,  we  look  upon  this  volume  of 
Knickerbocker — though  it  is  tiresome,  though 
there  are  some  wretched  failures  in  it,  a  little 
overdoing  of  the  humorous,  and  a  little  confusion 
of  purpose  throughout — as  a  work  honorable  to 
English  literature;  manly,  bold,  and  so  alto- 
gether original,  without  being  extravagant,  as  to 
stand  alone  among  the  labors  of  men. 

''Naval  Biography. — Some  of  these  papers 
are  bravely  done.  In  general  they  are  eloquent, 
simple,  clear,  and  beautiful.  Among  the  '  Lives/ 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         141 

that  of  poor  Perry,  the  young  fresh-water  Nelson, 
who  swept  Lake  Erie  of  our  fleet  in  such  a  gal- 
lant, seaman-like  style,  is  quite  remarkable,  as 
containing  within  itself  proof  that  Irving  has 
the  heart  of  a  poet.  ...  It  is  not  when  he  tries 
that  Irving  is  poetical.  It  is  only  where  he  is 
transported  suddenly  by  some  beautiful  thought 
—carried  away,  without  knowing  why,  by  inward 
music,  his  heart  beating,  his  respiration  hurried. 
He  is  never  the  man  to  call  up  the  anointed 
before  him  at  will,  to  imagine  spectacles,  or 
people  the  air,  earth,  and  sea,  like  a  wizard,  by 
the  waving  of  his  hand.  He  has  only  the  heart 
of  a  poet.  He  has  not,  he  never  will  have,  the 
power  of  one.  It  is  too  late  now.  Power  comes 
of  perpetual  warfare,  trial,  hardship ;  he  has 
grown  up  in  perpetual  quiet,  sunshine,  a  sort  of 
genteel  repose.  He  may  continue,  therefore,  to 
feel  poetry,  to  think  poetry,  to  utter  poetry,  by 
chance  ;  but  he  will  never  be  able  to  do  poetry 
now  as  he  might  have  done  it  before  this,  if  he 
had  been  worthily  tempered,  year  after  year,  by 
wind  or  fire,  rain  or  storm. 

"  Sketch-Book. — Irving  had  now  come  to  be 
regarded  as  a  professional  author ;  to  think  of 
his  pen  for  a  livelihood.  His  mercantile  specu- 


142        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

lations  were  disastrous.  We  are  glad  of  it.  It 
is  all  the  better  for  him,  his  country,  our  litera- 
ture, us.  But  for  that  lucky  misfortune  he 
would  never  have  been  half  what  he  now  is. 
But  for  his  present  humiliation  he  would  nevei 
be  half  what  he  will  now  be,  if  we  rightly  under- 
stand his  character. 

"  Strange,  but  so  it  was.  The  accidental 
association,  the  fortuitous  conjunction  of  two  or 
three  young  men  for  the  purpose  of  amusing 
the  town  with  a  few  pages  a  month  in  Salma- 
gundi, led  straightway  to  a  total  change  of  all 
their  views  in  life.  Two  of  them,  certainly,  per- 
haps all  three,  became  professional  authors  in  a 
country  where  only  one  (poor  Brown)  had  ever 
appeared  before.  Two  of  them  have  become 
greatly  distinguished  as  writers  ;  the  third  (Ver- 
planck)  somewhat  so  by  the  little  that  he  has 
written.  .  .  . 

'•'  The  Sketch-Book  is  a  timid,  beautiful  work, 
with  some  childish  pathos  in  it,  some  rich,  pure, 
bold  poetry,  a  little  squeamish,  puling,  lady-like 
sentimentality,  some  courageous  writing,  some 
wit,  and  a  world  of  humor  so  happy,  so  natural, 
so  altogether  unlike  that  of  any  other  men,  dead 
or  alive,  that  we  would  rather  have  been  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         143 

writer  of  it  fifty  times  over  than  of  any  thing 
else  that  he  has  ever  written. 

"  The  touches  of  poetry  are  every-where  ;  but 
never  where  one  would  look  for  them.  Irving 
has  no  passion  ;  he  fails  utterly  in  true  pathos 
— cannot  speak  as  if  he  were  carried  away  by 
any  thing.  He  is  always  thoughtful ;  and,  save 
where  he  tries  to  be  fine  or  sentimental,  always 
at  home,,  always  natural.  The  '  dusty  splendor ' 
of  Westminster  Abbey — the  ship  'staggering' 
over  the  precipices  of  the  ocean — the  shark 
'  darting  like  a  specter  through  the  blue  waters  ;' 
all  these  things  are  poetry — such  poetry  as 
never  was,  never  will  be  surpassed.  We  could 
mention  fifty  more  passages,  epithets,  words 
of  power,  which  no  mere  prose  writer  would 
have  dared  under  any  circumstances  to  use. 
They  are  like  the  'invincible  looks'  of  Mil- 
ton, revealing  the  god  in  spite  of  every  dis- 
guise. .  .  . 

"  The  bravest  article  that  Irving  ever  wrote 
is  that  about  our  '  English  Writers  on  America.' 
There  is  more  manhood,  more  sincerity,  more 
straight-forward,  generous  plain  dealing  in  that 
one  paper  than,  perhaps,  in  all  his  other 
works.  He  felt  what  he  said,  every  word  of  it, 


144        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

had  nothing  to  lose,  and,  of  course,  wrote  in- 
trepidly. Did  we  like  him  the  worse  for  it? 
No,  indeed.  It  was  that  very  paper  which 
made  him  respectable  in  this  country. 

"  Rip  Van  Winkle  is  well  done  ;  but  we  have 
no  patience  with  such  a  man  as  Washington 
Irving.  We  cannot  keep  our  temper  when  we 
catch  him  pilfering  the  materials  of  other  men — 
working  up  old  stories.  We  had  as  lief  see 
him  before  the  public  for  some  Bow-street 
offense. 

"  The  Wife  is  ridiculous,  with  some  beau- 
tiful description  ;  but  Irving,  as  we  said  before, 
has  no  idea  of  true  passion,  suffering,  or  deep, 
desolating  power. 

"  The  Mutability  of  Literature.— The  Art 
of  Book-making,  etc.,  are  only  parts  of  the 
same  essay ;  it  has  no  superior  in  our  lan- 
guage. .  .  . 

"  Traits  of  Indian  Character. — Very  good, 
very  ;  so  far  as  they  go,  historically  true.  Irving 
has  been  instrumental,  however,  by  twice  taking 
the  field  in  favor  of  the  North  American  savages. 
He  has  made  it  fashionable. 

"  Bracebridge  HalL — Stout  Gentlemen,  very 
good,  and  a  pretty  fair  account  of  real  occur- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         14$ 

rencc.*  Student  of  Salamanca,  beneath  con- 
tempt. Irving  has  no  idea  of  genuine  romance, 
or  love,  or  any  thing  else,  we  believe,  that  ever 
seriously  troubles  the  blood  of  men. 

"  Rookery. — Struck  off  in  a  few  hours,  con- 
trary to  what  has  been  said.  Irving  does  not 
labor  as  people  suppose  ;  he  is  too  indolent ; 
given  too  much,  we  know,  to  reverie. 

"  Dolph  Hcyliger,  77tc  Haunted House,  Storm- 
Ship. — All  in  the  fashion  of  his  early  time. 
Perhaps — we  are  greatly  inclined  so  to  believe 
— perhaps  the  remains  of  what  was  meant  for 
Salmagundi  or  Knickerbocker ;  the  rest  of 
the  two  volumes  quite  unworthy  of  Irving's 
reputation. 

"  Tales  of  a  Traveler. — We  hardly  know 
how  to  speak  of  this  sad  afifair,  when  we  think 
of  what  Irving  might  have  done,  without  losing 
our  temper.  It  is  bad  enough,  base  enough,  to 
steal  that  which  would  make  us  wealthy  forever ; 
but,  like  the  plundering  Arab,  to  steal  rubbish — 
any  thing,  from  any  body,  every  body — would  in- 
dicate a  helpless  moral  temperament,  a  standard 
of  self-estimation  beneath  every  thing.  No 
wonder  that  people  have  begun  to  question  his 

*  A  hint  of  plagiarism. 
10 


146         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

originality  when  they  find  him  receiving  the 
paltry  material  of  newspapers,  letters,  romances. 
In  the  early  part  of  these  two  volumes  we 
shall  never  see  any  merit,  knowing  as  we 
do  the  sources  of  what  he  is  serving  up,  how- 
ever admirable  were  his  new  arrangement  of 
the  dishes,  however  great  his  improvement 
A  part  of  the  book,  a  few  scenes,  a  few  pages, 
are  quite  equal  to  any  thing  that  he  ever 
wrote." 

The  reviewer  thus  concludes : 

"  One  word  of  advice  to  him  before  we  part, 
probably,  forever.  No  man  gets  credit  by  re- 
peating the  story  of  another ;  it  is  like  dram- 
atizing a  poet.  If  you  succeed,  he  gets  all  the 
praise ;  if  you  ti\\yyou  get  all  the  disgrace.  You, 
Geoffrey  Crayon,  have  great  power — original 
power.  We  rejoice  in  your  failure  now  because 
\vq  believe  it  will  drive  you  into  a  style  of  origi- 
nal composition  far  more  worthy  of  yourself. 
Go  to  work.  Lose  no  time.  Your  foundations 
will  be  the  stronger  for  this  reform.  You  can- 
not write  a  novel,  a  poem,  a  love-tale,  or  a 
tragedy.  But  you  can  write  another  Sketch- 
Book  worth  all  that  you  have  ever  written  if 
you  will  draw  only  from  yourself.  You  have 


Menioir  of  Washington  Irving.         147 

some  qualities  that  no  other  living  writer  has,  a 
bold,  quiet  humor,  a  rich,  beautiful  mode  of 
painting  without  caricature,  a  delightful,  free, 
happy  spirit — make  use  of  them.  We  Ibok  to 
see  you  all  the  better  for  this  trouncing.  God 
bless  you !  Farewell." 


148  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

IRVING,  as  we  have  seen,  returned  to  Paris 
simultaneously  with  the  publication  of 
"  Tales  of  a  Traveler,"  and  from  the  summer  of 
1824  he  resided  there  an  entire  year.  During 
the  autumn  he  occupied  lodgings  a  short  dis- 
tance out  of  the  city,  in  order  that  he  might  be 
free  from  the  various  annoying  interruptions  to 
which  he  was  subjected  in  town.  He  had  be- 
come famous  in  literature,  and  this  led  to  sundry 
calls,  and  many  invitations  to  fashionable  visits, 
parties,  balls,  etc. ;  amusements  which  had  now 
obviously  lost,  in  some  degree,  their  charm  for 
him,  while  they  proved  a  sad  interference  with 
his  intellectual  and  literary  pursuits. 

At  the  same  time,  however,  it  is  quite  notice- 
able that,  during  the  autumn  of  1824,  and 
throughout  the  year  1825,  Irving  accomplished 
comparatively  little  with  his  pen.  His  new 
work  had  encountered,  as  we  have  seen,  some 
severe  strictures  from  the  critics  both  in  En- 
gland and  America,  and  his  sensitive  nature 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         149 

quailed  under  the  influence,  and  his  spirits 
were  often  much  depressed.  Some  of  his  letters 
betray  decided  regrets  that  he  had  not  adopted 
a  different  path  of  life,  devoting  himself  in  his 
youth  to  some  substantial  and  regular  employ- 
ment, and  not  have  ventured  upon  the  uncertain 
career  of  literature.  To  a  promising  nephew 
who  had  recently  graduated,  and  who  seemed 
somewhat  inclined  to  a  literary  life,  he  addressed 
about  this  time  a  deeply  interesting  letter,  in 
which  he  expressed  a  hope  that  none  of  his 
near  and  special  friends  would  be  led  to  imitate 
his  example  in  wandering  into  what  he  terms 
"  the  seducive  and  treacherous  paths  of  litera- 
ture." He  assured  his  nephew  that  such  a  life 
was  precarious  both  sis  to  profits  and  enjoy- 
ment that  though  he  had  himself  been  some- 
what prosperous  in  authorship,  he  would 
dissuade  all  whom  he  could  influence  from 
hazarding  their  fortunes  to  the  pen,  and  that 
he  was  anticipating  with  pleasure  the  time  when 
he  should  be  above  the  necessity  of  writing. 
"  If,"  he  adds,  "  you  think  my  path  has  been  a 
flowery  one  you  are  greatly  mistaken.  It  has 
too  often  lain  among  thorns  and  brambles,  and 
been  darkened  by  care  and  despondency.  Many 


150        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

and  many  a  time  have  I  regretted  that  at  my 
early  outset  in  life  I  had  not  been  imperiously 
bound  down  to  some  regular  and  useful  mode 
of  life,  and  been  thoroughly  inured  to  habits  of 
business  ;  and  I  have  a  thousand  times  regretted 
with  bitterness  that  ever  I  was  led  away  by  my 
imagination." 

We  are  not  yet  disposed  to  quarrel  with  ad- 
monitions and  reflections  like  these.  They 
may  be  appropriate  to  pens  that  are  employed 
mainly  for  bread  ;  but  the  view,  on  the  whole, 
seems  too  much  tinctured  with  what  is  morbid 
and  worldly.  The  pen  may  have  and  perform 
a  mission  as  sacred  and  noble  as  the  Christian 
ministry  itself,  and  hence  ditty,  as  truly  as  a 
mere  expediency,  may  point  to  a  diligent  and 
conscientious  career  of  authorship.  With  the 
views  alluded  to  by  Irving  in  this  letter  to  his 
nephew  a  man  may  write  or  do  otherwise,  as 
may  be  his  preference.  But  a  more  elevated 
and  purer  vision  may  lead  one  to  decide  and 
act  on  a  very  different  principle.  If  it  be  in  an 
author's  mind  to  write  for  the  mere  amusement 
of  his  readers,  we  may  conceive  it  optional  with 
himself  whether  he  will  write  or  engage  in  one 
of  sundry  other  occupations ;  but  if,  on  the  other 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          151 

hand,  there  seem  "a  necessity  upon  him"  to 
write  for  the  edification  of  the  multitude,  then 
the  optional  feature  is  by  no  means  so  ap- 
parent. 

As  winter  came  on  Irving  removed  into  town 
and  established  his  quarters  with  his  brother 
Peter,  who  was  also  living  a  bachelor  life  at 
Paris.     Previously,  however,  and  in  the  early 
days  of  October,  the  two  brothers  made  an  ex- 
cursion into  the  country,  that  they  might  enjoy 
an   opportunity  to  see  more  of  the  beautiful 
realm  of  France  than  they  had  yet  observed. 
The  weather  proved  to  be  all  they  could  wish, 
being  serene  and  delightful,  while  the  golden 
autumn  imparted  its  peculiar  tints  to  the  pleas- 
ant and  sprightly  scenery  thrxt  opened  up  before 
them  on  every  hand.     Their  path  lay  along  the 
banks  of  the  Loire,  and  towns  and  castles  fa- 
mous in  story,  and  richly  wooded  hills  over- 
looking far-reaching  vales,  were  spread  out  be- 
fore them  in  enchanting  loveliness.     After  a 
nine  days'  ramble  they  returned  to  their  winter 
quarters  in  Rue  Richelieu,  No.  89. 

Their  establishment  here  seems  to  have  been 
very  complete  and  comfortable,  except  that  it 
had  to  be  reached  by  mounting  several  flights 


152        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

of  stairs.  Their  rooms  opened  into  each  other, 
and  were  excellently  well  fitted  up  and  fur- 
nished. A  French  servant-woman  acted  as 
cook,  chamber-maid,  butler,  and  footman,  "  who," 
says  Irving,  "  keeps  every  thing  in  the  neatest 
order,  and  chatters  even  faster  than  she  works." 
The  brothers  had  their  separate  rooms,  and  each 
could  follow  his  own  business  without  interfering 
with  the  other,  one  of  the  very  best  libraries  in 
the  world  was  within  five  minutes'  walk  of  their 
lodgings,  and  to  which  they  enjoyed  full  and 
free  access.  Is  not  here  a  picture  for  a  student 
or  an  author  ?  Surely  much  might  be  expected 
from  comforts  and  advantages  like  these. 

Yet,  as  we  have  already  noticed,  but  little 
was  accomplished  under  circumstances  so  pro- 
pitious. The  autumn,  winter,  and  the  succeed- 
ing spring  and  summer  passed  away,  leaving 
but  slight  fruits  of  that  facile  and  beautiful  pen. 
There  were  attempts  at  plottings  and  plan- 
nings.  One  and  another  theme  arose  before 
the  mind's  eye.  Some  essays  were  projected 
and  written  with  a  view  of  being  grouped  into 
a  volume,  but  they  seem  to  have  never  seen  the 
light.  For  months  there  are  hints  of  "sleep- 
less nights,"  "  uncomfortable  thoughts,"  "  a 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         153 

heavy  heart,"  "  deep  depression,"  and  the  like. 
Nor  while  his  pen  was  thus  palsied  is  there 
much  evidence  of  any  systematic  or  extensive 
reading,  though  he  was  dwelling  under  the 
shadow  of  an  immense  library.  His  principal 
study  seems  to  have  been  the  Spanish  language, 
which,  it  is  presumed,  he  cultivated  with  com- 
mendable diligence,  having  in  view  even  then, 
without  doubt,  a  sojourn  in  Spain,  and  an  in- 
troduction to  its  literature. 

Toward  the  last  of  September  of  this  year 
the  two  brothers  left  Paris  for  Bordeaux,  where 
they  remained  about  four  months.  Here  Irving 
represents  himself  as  visiting,  rambling,  and 
writing  some,  and  closes  up  the  year  with  say- 
ing, "  A  year  very  little  of  which  I  would  will- 
ingly live  over  again,  though  some  parts  have 
been  tolerably  pleasant." 


154         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

/ 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  year  1826,  and  while 
still  at  Bordeaux,  Mr.  Irving  writes  to  Mr. 
Alexander  H.  Everett,  then  United  States  Min- 
ister at  the  Court  of  Spain,  inquiring  whether 
it  would  be  possible  for  him  to  be  attached  to 
the  embassy,  as  he  would  then,  in  his  contem- 
plated travels  in  Spain,  be  under  its  protection. 
Mr.  Everett  at  once  responded  favorably,  at- 
tached Irving  as  desired,  and  forwarded  him  a 
passport.  The  Minister  further  suggested  to 
him  the  idea  of  a  translation  of  the  "  Voyages  of 
Columbus,"  just  from  the  press  by  Navarette, 
and  which  would  probably  bring  him  a  liberal 
compensation. 

Under  these  pleasant  auspices  and  prospects 
the  two  brothers  started  immediately  from  Bor- 
deaux for  Madrid,  arriving  February  15.  An 
examination  of  Navarette's  "Voyages"  im- 
pressed him  that  from  the  character  of  the 
work  it  was  better  fitted  as  materials  of  history 
than  as  history  itself,  and  the  idea  of  an  original 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         155 

Life  of  Columbus  was  at  once  suggested  to  his 
mind.  He  immediately  commenced  such  a 
work,  and  prosecuted  it  with  untiring  diligence, 
sometimes  writing  all  day  and  far  into  the  night 
during  five  or  six  months. 

At  the  end  of  this  time  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  writing  a  history  of  the  Conquest  of  Grena- 
da, and  leaving  for  a  time  his  "  Columbus  "  he 
plunged  into  this  new  undertaking,  and  in  three 
months  the  rough  draft  of  the  work  was  com- 
pleted, and  he  resumed  his  former  manuscript. 
Hence  his  closing  record  of  this  year  is  far 
more  satisfactory  than  that  of  the  preceding, 
and  is  eminently  worth  quoting.  "  And  so 
ends  the  year  1826,  which  has  been  a  year  of 
the  hardest  application  and  toil  of  the  pen  I 
have  ever  passed.  I  feel  more  satisfied,  how- 
ever, with  the  manner  in  which  I  have  passed 
it  than  I  have  been  with  that  of  many  gayer 
years,  and  close  this  year  of  my  life  in  better 
humor  with  myself  than  I  have  often  done." 

A  suggestive  lesson  1  The  retrospect  of 
"gayer  years"  is  one ;  that  of  years  of  close  and 
useful  application  is  another ;  and  which  will  be 
the  pleasanter  of  the  two  henceforth  and  always 
admits  of  no  doubt  or  question. 


156        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Irving' s  bow  continued  to  "abide  in  strength/' 
As  the  winter  and  spring  advanced  he  still  con- 
tinued diligently  at  his  manuscript  of  Columbus. 
Various  difficulties  arose  as  he  advanced.  New 
light  would  spring  up  on  one  and  another  point 
which  he  deemed  already  settled,  so  that  nu- 
merous passages  must  be  rewritten  which  he 
had  thought  to  be  finished  and  nearly  off  of  his 
hands.  By  the  end  of  July,  however,  and  about 
eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  its  com- 
mencement, the  work  was  completed  and  ready 
for  the  press.  As  was  usual  with  him,  it  was 
published  simultaneously  in  London  and  New 
York. 

For  the  copy-right  of  this  work  Mr,  Irving  re- 
ceived from  his  London  publisher  about  sixteen 
thousand  dollars.  From  so  liberal  a  compensa- 
tion it  may  be  inferred  that  this  publisher 
esteemed  the  work  the  best  that  the  author  had 
yet  written.  Southey  to  whom  the  manuscript 
was  first  shown,  praised  it  unqualifiedly  "  both 
as  to  matter  and  manner."  A  reviewer  in  the 
London  Times,  bating  some  alleged  faults,  ad- 
mits it  to  be  elegantly  and  agreeably  written — 
a  most  delightful  production.  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh gave  the  work  flattering  commendations, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         157 

and  it  was  reviewed  with  special  favor  in  the 
North  American  Review  by  Alexander  H.  Ev- 
erett, than  whom  few  in  the  whole  literary  world 
were  more  competent  to  criticise  fairly  and 
justly  such  a  work. 

"  This/'  says  Mr.  Everett,  "  is  one  of  those 
works  which  are  at  the  same  time  the  delight 
of  readers  and  the  despair  of  critics.  It  is  as 
nearly  perfect  as  any  work  well  can  be ;  and 
there  is,  therefore,  little  or  nothing  left  for  the 
reviewer  but  to  write  at  the  bottom  of  every 
page,  as  Voltaire  said  he  should  be  obliged  to 
do  if  he  published  a  commentary  on  Racine, 
Putchrc!  bend  optime !  He  has  at  length 
filled  up  the  void  that  before  existed  in  this 
respect  in  the  literature  of  the  world,  and  pro- 
duced a  work  which  will  fully  satisfy  the  public, 
and  supersede  the  necessity  of  any  future  labors 
in  the  same  field.  ,  .  .  For  the  particular  kind 
of  historical  writing  in  which  Mr.  Irving  is  fitted 
to  labor  and  excel,  the  Life  of  Columbus  is  un- 
doubtedly one  of  the  very  best,  perhaps  we 
might  say  without  the  fear  of  mistake  the  very 
best,  subject  afforded  by  the  annals  of  the  world. 
In  treating  this  happy  and  splendid  subject,  Mr. 
Irving  has  brought  out  the  full  force  of  his 


158        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

genius  as  far  as  a  just  regard  for  the  principles 
of  historical  writing  would  admit." 

Doubtless  this  testimony  is  conclusive  touch- 
ing the  merit  of  this  work,  although  numerous 
others  might  be  easily  adduced,  and  from  the 
most  respectable  sources,  such  as  Prescott, 
Story,  Kent,  etc. 

We  must  indulge  in  an  extract  or  two : 
i.  The  Man. — "  He  was,  at  that  time,  in  the 
full  vigor  of  manhood,  and  of  an  engaging  pres- 
ence. Minute  descriptions  are  given  of  his 
person  by  his  son  Fernando,  by  Las  Casas,  and 
others  of  his  contemporaries.  According  to 
these  accounts,  he  was  tall,  well-formed,  muscular, 
and  of  an  elevated  and  dignified  demeanor.  His 
visage  was  long,  and  neither  full  nor  meager ; 
his  complexion  fair  and  freckled,  and  inclined  to 
ruddy ;  his  nose  aquiline  ;  his  cheek-bones  were 
rather  high,  his  eyes  light  gray  and  apt  to  en- 
kindle ;  his  whole  countenance  had  an  air  of 
authority.  His  hair  in  his  youthful  days  was 
of  a  light  color,  but  care  and  trouble,  according 
to  Las  Casas,  soon  turned  it  to  gray,  and  at 
thirty  years  of  age  it  was  quite  white.  He  was 
moderate  and  simple  in  diet  and  apparel,  elo- 
quent in  discourse,  engaging  and  affable  with 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         159 

strangers,  and  of  an  amiableness  and  suavity  in 
domestic  life  that  strongly  attached  his  house- 
hold to  his  person.  His  temper  was  naturally 
irritable,  but  he  subdued  it  by  the  magnanimity 
of  his  spirit,  comporting  himself  with  a  courteous 
and  gentle  gravity,  and  never  indulging  in  any 
intemperance  of  language.  Throughout  his  life 
he  was  noted  for  a  strict  attention  to  the  offices 
of  religion,  observing  rigorously  the  fasts  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  ;  nor  did  his  piety 
consist  in  mere  forms,  but  partook  of  that  lofty 
and  solemn  enthusiasm  with  which  his  whole 
character  was  strongly  marked." 

2.  The  Ships. — "  After  the  great  difficulties 
made  by  various  courts  in  furnishing  this  expe- 
dition, it  is  surprising  how  inconsiderable  an 
armament  was  required.  It  is  evident  that  Co- 
lumbus had  reduced  his  requisitions  to  the  nar- 
rowest limits,  lest  any  great  expense  should 
cause  impediment.  Three  small  vessels  were 
apparently  all  that  he  had  requested.  Two  of 
them  were  light  barks,  called  caravels,  not 
superior  to  river  and  coasting  craft  of  more 
modern  days.  Representations  of  this  class  of 
vessels  exist  in  old  prints  and  paintings.  They 
are  delineated  as  open  and  without  deck  in  the 


160        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

center,  but  built  up  high  at  the  prow  and  stern, 
with  forecastles  and  cabins  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  crew.     Peter  Martyr,  the  learned 
contemporary  of  Columbus,  says  that  only  one  of 
the  three  vessels  was  decked.     The  smallness 
of  the  vessels  was  a  nsidered  an  advantage  by 
Columbus  in  a  voyage  of  discovery,  enabling 
him  to  run  close  to  the  shores  and  to  enter 
shallow  rivers  and  harbors.    In  his  third  voyage, 
when  coasting  the  gulf  of  Paria,  he  complained 
of  the  size  of  his  ship,  being  nearly  a  hundred 
tons  burden.     But  that  such  long  and  perilous 
expeditions  into  unknown  seas  should  be  under- 
taken in  vessels  without  decks,  and  that  they 
should  live  through  violent  tempests,  by  which 
they  were  frequently  assailed,  remain  among  the 
singular  circumstances  of  these  daring  voyages." 
3.   The  Approach. — "  For  three  days  they  stood 
in  this  direction,  and  the  further  they  went  the 
more  frequent  and  encouraging  were  the  signs 
of  land.    Flights  of  small  birds  of  various  colors, 
some  of  them  such  as  sing  in  the  fields,  came  fly- 
ing about  the  ships,  and  then  continued  toward 
the  south-west,  and  others  were  heard  also  flying 
by  in  the  night.     Funny-fish  played  about  the 
smooth  sea,  and  a  heron,  a  pelican,  and  a  duck 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         161 

were  seen,  all  bound  in  the  same  direction.  The 
herbage  which  floated  by  the  ships  was  fresh 
and  green,  as  if  recently  from  land  ;  and  the  air, 
Columbus  observes,  was  sweet  and  fragrant  as 
April  breezes  in  Seville. 

"  All  these,  however,  were  regarded  by  the 
crews  as  so  many  delusions  beguiling  them  on 
to  destruction  ;  and  when,  on  the  evening  of  the 
third  day,  they  beheld  the  sun  go  down  upon 
a    shoreless   horizon,    they    broke    forth   into 
clamorous  turbulence.     Fortunately,  however, 
the  manifestations  of  neighboring   land  were 
such  on  the  following  day  as  no  longer  to  admit 
a  donbt.     Besides  a  quantity  of  fresh  weeds 
such  as  grow  in  rivers,  they  saw  a  green  fish  of 
a  kind  which  keeps  about  rocks ;  then  a  branch 
of  thorn  with  berries  on  it,  and  recently  sep- 
arated from  the  tree,  floated  by  them.    Then 
they  picked  up  a  reed,  a  small  board,  and  above 
all,  a  staff*  artificially  carved.    All  gloom  and 
mutiny  now  gave  way  to  sanguine  expectation, 
and  throughout  the  day  each  one  was  eagerly 
on  the  watch  in  hopes  of  being  the  first  to  dis- 
cover the  Iong-sought-f6r  land." 

4.  The  Discovery. — "  The  greatest  animation 

prevailed  throughout  the  ships  ;  not  an  eye  was 
11 


162        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

closed  that  night.  As  the  evening  darkened, 
Columbus  took  his  station  on  "the  top  of  the 
castle  cabin  on  the  high  poop  of  his  vessel. 
However  he  might  carry  a  cheerful  and  confi- 
dent countenance  during  the  day,  it  was  to  him 
a  time  of  the  most  painful  anxiety;  and  now 
when  he  was  wrapped  from  observation  by  the 
shades  of  night,  he  maintained  an  intense  and 
unremitting  watch,  ranging  his  eye  along  the 
dusky  horizon  in  search  of  the  most  vague  indi- 
cations of  land.  .  .  .  They  continued  their 
course  until  two  in  the  morning,  when  a  gun 
from  the  Pinta  gave  the  joyful  signal  of  land.  .  .  . 
The  land  was  now  clearly  seen  about  two  leagues 
distant,  whereupon  they  took  in  sail  and  lay  to, 
waiting  impatiently  for  the  dawn. 

"  The  thoughts  and  feelings  of  Columbus  in 
this  little  space  of  time  must  have  been  tumultu- 
ous and  intense.  At  length,  in  spite  of  every 
difficulty  and  danger,  he  had  accomplished  his 
object.  The  great  mystery  of  the  ocean  was 
revealed  ;  his  theory  which  had  been  the  scoff 
of  sages  was  triumphantly  established  ;  he  had 
secured  to  himself  a  glory  which  must  be  as 
durable  as  the  world  itself." 

5.   The  Landing. — "  As  they  approached  the 


Meiuoir  of  Washington  Irving.         163 

shores  they  were  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  the 
ample  forests,  which  in  those  climates  have 
extraordinary  vegetation.  They  beheld  fruits 
of  tempting  hue,  but  unknown  kind,  growing 
among  the  trees  which  overhung  the  shores. 
The  purity  and  suavity  of  the  atmosphere,  the 
crystal  transparency  of  the  seas  which  bathe 
these  islands,  give  them  a  wonderful  beauty,  and 
must  have  had  their  effect  upon  the  suscep- 
tible feelings  of  Columbus.  No  sooner  did  he 
land  than  he  threw  himself  upon  his  knees, 
kissed  the  earth,  and  returned  thanks  to  God 
with  tears  of  joy.  His  example  was  followed 
by  the  rest,  whose  hearts,  indeed,  overflowed 
with  the  same  feelings  of  gratitude," 

6.  The  Natives. — "  The  natives  of  the  island, 
when  at  the  dawn  of  day  they  had  beheld  the 
ships,  with  their  sails  set,  hovering  on  their 
coast,  had  supposed  them  some  monsters  which 
had  issued  from  the  deep  during  the  night. 
They  had  crowded  to  the  beach  and  watched 
their  movements  with  awful  anxiety.  Their 
veering  about  apparently  without  effort ;  the 
shifting  and  furling  of  their  sails,  resembling 
huge  wings,  filled  them  with  astonishment. 
When  they  beheld  their  boats  approach  the 


164         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

shore,  and  a  number  of  strange  beings  clad  in 
glittering  steel,  or  raiment  of  various  colors, 
landing  upon  the  beach,  they  fled   in  affright 
to  their  woods.     Finding,  however,  that  there 
was  no  attempt  to  pursue  nor  molest  them,  they 
gradually  recovered  from  their  terror,  and  ap- 
proached  the   Spaniards  with   great   awe,  fre- 
quently prostrating  themselves   on  the   earth 
and  making  signs  of  adoration.      During  the 
ceremonies  of  taking  possession,  they  remained 
in   timid   admiration   at    the   complexion,   the 
beards,  the  shining  armor,  arid  splendid  dress 
of  the  Spaniards,      The  Admiral   particularly 
attracted  their  attention  from  his  commanding 
height,  his  air  of  authority,  his  dress  of  scarlet, 
and  the  deference  which  was  paid  him  by  his 
companions — all  of  which  pointed  him  out  to  be 
the  commander.     When  they  had  still  further 
recovered  from  their  fears,  they  approached  the 
Spaniards,  touched  their  beards,  and  examined 
their  hands  and  faces,  admiring  their  whiteness. 
Columbus,  pleased  with  their  simplicity,  their 
gentleness,  and  the  confidence  they  reposed  in 
beings  who  must  have  appeared   to  them  so 
strange  and  formidable,  suffered  their  scrutiny 
with    perfect    acquiescence.      The    wondering 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         165 

savages  were  won  by  this  benignity  ;  they  now 
supposed  that  the  ships  had  sailed  out  of  the 
crystal  firmament  which  bounded  their  horizon, 
or  that  they  had  descended  from  above  on  their 
ample  wings,  and  that  these  marvelous  beings 
were  inhabitants  of  the  skies." 


166        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

MR.  IRVING  now  indulged  himself  in  an- 
other considerable  vacation ;  and,  for  a 
year  or  so  after  dismissing  his  "  Columbus  "  to 
the  publisher,  we  discern  but  little  activity  of 
his  pen  except  the  completion  of  his  "  Conquest 
of  Grenada,"  some  revision  of  his  "  Columbus  " 
for  a  second  edition,  and  various  interesting 
letters  to  his  friends. 

We  find  him  also  again  in  motion.  Ever 
since  coming  to  Madrid  he  had  been  hard  at 
work,  and  had  enjoyed  but  slight  opportunities 
for  excursions  and  sight-seeing  in  so  interesting 
a  country  as  Spain.  He  had,  indeed,  tran- 
siently visited  Segovia,  the  Escurial,  and  Toledo, 
cities  somewhat  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
capital ;  but  he  now  contemplated  more  exten- 
sive travels,  and  determined  to  visit  a  few  other 
and  more  distant  localities,  and  such  as  were  of 
historic  interest. 

Accordingly,  in  the  early  spring  of  1828,  in 
company  with  two  friends,  he  started  on  a  south- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  167 

era  tour,  designing  to  visit  some  of  the  more 
interesting  cities  of  Andalusia.     His  brother 
Peter,  who  had  been  with  him  at  M?drid,  was 
expecting  to  join  the  excursion,  but  increasing 
ill-health  prevented  the  plan,  and  the  brothers 
parted  company — Peter  leaving  Madrid  for  Paris 
on  the  same  day  that  Washington  and  his  party 
left  for  the  south.     Their  journey  toward  the 
Mediterranean  was  safe  as  well  as  deeply  interest- 
ing.    Crossing  the  Sierra  Morena  Mountains, 
they  were  delighted  with  the  wild  and  romantic 
scenery  through  which  they  passed.     Descend- 
ing, they  were  charmed  with  the  balmy  air  and 
beautiful  scenery  of  Andalusia.     During  their 
transient  stay  at  Cordova  they  regaled  them- 
selves with  brief  excursions  among  the  neighbor- 
ing mountains,  clothed  with  arometic  shrubbery 
and  glorious    flowers.     They  saw  the  shining 
Guadalquivir  winding  through  green  and  fertile 
plains,  while  in  the  far  south  rose  the  snowy 
summits  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  the  intervening 
landscape  presenting  a  scene  of  loveliness  that 
might  vie  with  the  enchanting  vale  of  Cashmere 
itself.    Thence,  a  few  leagues  bring  them  to 
Granada,   so    full    of  historical    recollections, 
wherein,  from  his  recent  studies,  he  was  so  deeply 


1 68        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

interested,  and  which  he  was  so  well  prepared 
to  appreciate.     With  a  sort  of  ecstasy,  Irving, 
as  he  approached  the  city,   caught  his   first 
glimpse  of  the  Alhambra  bathed  in  the  purple 
radiance  of  the  evening  sun.     Here,  with  his 
traveling  companions,  he  lingered  for   several 
days  surveying  the  city  and  its  envirous.     But 
with  Irving  the  ancient  palace  of  the  Alhambra 
was  the  special  point  of  interest.     He  seemed 
.  never  weary  of  lingering  amid  the  charming 
scenery  here  presented  to  view,  and  he  writes 
enthusiastically  of  the  "delicately  ornamented 
walls,  the  aromatic  groves   mingling  with  the 
freshness   and   the  enlivening  sound  of  fount- 
ains and  the  runs  of  water,  the  retired  baths 
bespeaking  purity  and  refinement,  the  balconies 
and  galleries  open  to  the  fresh  mountain  breeze, 
and  overlooking  the  loveliest  scenery  of  the 
valley  of  the  Darro  and  the  magnificent  expanse 
of  the   vega."     And  he  adds  that  it  is  "im- 
possible to  contemplate  this  delicious  abode  and 
not  feel  an  admiration  of  this  genius  and  the  poet- 
ical spirit  of  those  who  first  devised  this  earthly 
paradise."      He  delights    to   escape  from   the 
noise  and  turmoil  of  the  city,  and  roam  amid 
these  groves  and  gardens  of  beauty,  and  along 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         169 

the  magnificent  colonnades,  and  marble  halls, 
and  mouldering  towers — his  mind,  the  while, 
crowded  with  the  historical  associations  that 
cnwrcathe  themselves  with  every  object  that 
meets  his  eye. 

Yet  he  cannot  at  present  linger ;  and  in  a 
few  days  he  is  off  for  Malaga.  The  route  is 
deeply  interesting,  yet  laborious  and  fatiguing, 
lying  sometimes  amid  savage  scenes  and  a  deso- 
late country,  now  passing  over  stern  mountain 
regions,  and  then  again  traversing  little  fertile 
and  lovely  vales  locked  up  in  mountain  embraces, 
while  at  times  the  glorious  Mediterranean  would 
rise  on  the  delighted  vision  like  as  when  the 
retreating  Greeks  shouted,  "  The  Sea,  the  Sea  ! " 
as  the  dark  and  heaving  Euxine  burst  upon  their 
view.  Far  away  on  the  deep  frequent  sails 
were  in  sight,  brilliant  amid  the  sunshine,  and 
sometimes  away  below  them  upon  the  sandy 
beach  fishermen  were  drawing  their  nets  with 
shouts  and  songs.  "Our  road  at  times,"  he 
writes,  "  wound  along  the  face  of  vast  promon- 
tories, where  we  rode  along  a  path  formed  like 
a  cornice,  whence  we  looked  down  upon  the 
surf  beating  upon  the  rocks  at  an  immense 
distance  below  us;"  and  here  and  there  a 


170         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

cross  would  be  erected  at  the  road-side,  desig- 
nating the  spot  where  some  hapless  traveler 
had  been  waylaid  and  murdered  by  prowling 
banditti. 

No  disaster,  however,  occurred  to  our  travel- 
ers, and  nine  days  of  journeying  brought  them 
to  Malaga.      Here,  also,   they  passed  several 
days,  receiving  great  attention  and  hospitality 
from  the  American  Consul.     Then,  by  way  of 
the  mountains  of  Ronda,  they  visited  Gibraltar, 
where  they  were  again  overwhelmed  with  kind- 
ness and  hospitality.     Cadiz  Irving  pronounces 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  cities,  whence,  after 
a  sojourn  of  two  days,  and  taking  leave  of  his 
traveling  companions,  he  embarks  by  steam  for 
Seville,  distant  sixty  miles  up  the  Guadalquivir. 
After  a  fine  sail  of  twelve  hours  he  reached  the 
city,  April  14,  and  thus  concluded  what  he  es- 
teemed one  of  the  most  intensely  interesting  tours 
he  had  ever  made.    He  deemed  the  Andalusians 
an  admirable  people,  and  was  delighted  with 
the  country  as  well  as  its  inhabitants.     "  They 
are  further  removed,"  he  says,  "  from  the  rest 
of  Europeans  in  their  characteristics  than  any 
of  the  people  of  Spain  that  I  have  seen.     They 
belong  more  to  Africa  in  many  of  their  traits 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         1 7 1 

and  habitudes  ;  and  when  I  am  mingling  among 
them  in  some  of  their  old  country  towns,  I  can 
scarcely  persuade  myself  that  the  expulsion  of 
the  Moors  has  been  any  thing  more  than 
nominal." 


172         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

MR.  IRVING  had  planned  to  remain  sev- 
eral weeks  at  Seville  for  the  purpose  of 
finishing  and  preparing  for  the  press  his  "  Con- 
quest of  Granada."  He  lingered  here,  however, 
more  than  a  year,  spending  six  weeks  of  the 
summer  months  without  the  walls  of  the  city. 
He  had  here  as  a  companion  a  young  English- 
man in  delicate  health,  Mr.  John  N.  Hall,  who 
had  been  his  fellow-lodger  also  in  the  city. 
His  sketches  of  his  little  suburban  home  are 
especially  attractive.  It  was  a  lonely  spot,  about 
two  miles  from  town,  and  the  cottage  was  inclosed 
within  a  high  wall,  and  the  keeper  locked  them 
in  at  sunset  for  the  night.  In  the  rear  of  the 
cottage  was  a  little  garden  full  of  orange  and 
citron  trees,  with  a  porch  overhung  with  grape- 
vines and  jessamines.  "  The  place,"  he  writes, 
"  suits  me  from  its  uninterrupted  quiet.  I  pass 
my  time  here  completely  undisturbed,  having 
no  visits  to  pay  or  receive.  It  is  a  long  time 
since  I  have  been  so  tranquil,  so  completely  in- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         173 

sulatcd,  so  free  from  the  noises  and  distractions 
of  the  town,  and  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  I 
relish  it." 

Further  on  we  find  similar  contented  mus- 
ings and  rational  moralizings :  "  We  are  great 
cheats  to  ourselves,  and  defraud  ourselves  out 
of  a  great  portion  of  this  our  petty  term  of  ex- 
istence, filling  it  up  with  idle  ceremonies  and 
irksome  occupations  and  unnecessary  cares. 
By  dint  of  passing  our  time  in  the  distractions 
of  a  continual  succession  of  society  we  lose  all 
intimacy  with  what  ought  to  be  our  best  and 
most  cherished  society — ourselves;  and  by  fixing 
our  attention  on  the  vapid  amusements  and  pal- 
try splendors  of  a  town,  we  lose  all  perceptions 
of  the  serene  and  elevating  pleasures  and  the 
magnificent  spectacles  presented  us  by  Nature. 
What  soiree  in  Madrid  could  repay  me  for  a 
calm,  delicious  evening  passed  here  among  the 
old  trees  of  the  garden,  in  untroubled  thought 
or  unbroken  reverie  ?  or  what  splendor  of  ball- 
room or  court  itself  can  equal  the  glory  of  sun- 
set or  the  serene  magnificence  of  the  moon  and 
stars  shining  so  clearly  above  me  ? " 

During  Mr.  Irving's  stay  in  this  retirement 
he  pens  a  letter  to  a  young  friend,  whose  ac- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

quaintance  he  had  made  at  Madrid  —  Prince 
Dolgorouki,  Secretary  of  Legation  to  the  Rus- 
sian embassy  there.      So  excellent  are  some 
sentiments  of  this  letter,  and  so  appropriate  to 
multitudes   of  youth,  that  we  cannot   forbear 
presenting  a  single  extract.     "You  repine  at 
times,"  he  writes, "  at  the  futility  of  the  gay  and 
great  world  about  you.     The  world  is  pretty 
much  what  we  make  it,  and  it  will  be  filled  up 
with  nullities  and  trifles  if  we  suffer  them  to 
occupy  our  attention.  .  .  .  Fix  your  attention  6n 
noble  objects  and  noble  purposes,  and  sacrifice 
all  temporary  and  trivial  things  to  their  attain- 
ment.    Consider  every  thing  not  as  to  its  pres- 
ent importance  and  effect,  but  with  relation  to 
what  it  is  to  produce  some  time  hence.  ...  In 
society  let  what  is  merely  amusing  occupy  but 
the  waste  moments  of  your  leisure  and  the  mere 
surface  of  your  thoughts  ;  cultivate  such  inti- 
macies only  as  may  ripen  into  lasting  friend- 
ship or  furnish  your   memory  with   valuable 
recollections.      Above    all,   mark    one  line   in 
which  to  excel,  and  bend  all  your  thoughts  and 
exertions  to  rise  to  eminence,  or  rather  to  ad- 
vance toward  perfection,  in  that  line.     In  this 
way  you  will  find  your  views  gradually  con- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         175 

verging  toward  one  point  instead  of  being  dis- 
tracted by  a  thousand  objects." 

About  the  middle  of  August  Mr.  Irving 
made  a  brief  visit  to  Palos,  the  port  from  which 
Columbus  sailed  on  his  voyage  of  discovery  to 
the  western  world.  Here  he  viewed  every  spot 
memorable  in  connection  with  the  great  expe- 
ditk>n,  and  inquired  diligently  into  every  thing 
relating  to  Columbus  and  his  history.  A  fort- 
night after  returning  from  this  excursion  him- 
self and  his  companion  sought  a  cooler  residence 
on  the  shores  of  the  bay  of  Cadiz,  and  about 
eight  miles  from  the  city.  Here  they  occupied 
a  little  country-seat,  bearing  the  pleasant  name 
of  Ccrillo,  crowning  the  summit  of  a  hill,  and 
commanding  an  extensive  and  charming  pros- 
pect— Cadiz  and  its  beautiful  bay  before  them, 
and  the  mountains  of  Ronda  towering  aloft  far 
away  in  the  eastern  horizon. 

The  "Conquest  of  Granada"  was  now  fin- 
ished, and  the  portion  which  was  copied — 
about  half  the  first  volume — was  immediately 
dispatched  to  London  and  New  York  for  pub- 
lication, and  the  remainder  was  to  follow  as  fast 
as  copied.  The  author  also  dispatched  to  En- 
gland and  this  country  his  revised  edition  of 
\  ' 


176         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"Columbus."  The  copy-right  of  the  "Con- 
quest" for  five  years  brought  him  $4,750  in 
New  York,  and  2,000  guineas  at  London  for 
the  permanent  copy-right. 

From  the  opening  chapter  of  the  "Conquest" 
we  quote  the  description  of  the  kingdom  and 
city  of  Granada  previous  to  the  conquest,  to- 
gether with  its  people,  military  character  and 
political  position. 

"This  renowned  kingdom,  situated  in  the 
southern  part  of  Spain,  and  washed  on  one 
side  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  was  trav- 
ersed in  every  direction  by  sierras  or  chains 
of  lofty  and  rugged  mountains,  naked,  rocky, 
and  precipitous,  rendering  it  almost  impreg- 
nable, but  locking  up  within  their  sterile  em- 
braces deep,  rich,  and  verdant  valleys  of  prodi- 
gal fertility. 

"  In  the  center  of  the  kingdom  lay  its  capital, 
the  beautiful  city  of  Granada,  sheltered,  as  it 
were,  in  the  lap  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  or  Snowy 
Mountains.  Its  houses,  seventy  thousand  in 
number,  covered  two  lofty  hills  with  their  de- 
clivities, and  a  deep  valley  between  them, 
through  which  flowed  the  Duero.  The  streets 
were  narrow,  as  is  usual  in  Moorish  and  Arab 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          1 77 

cities,  but  there  were  occasionally  small  squares 
and  open  places.     The  houses  had  gardens  and 
interior  courts  set  out  with  orange,  citron,  and 
pomegranate  trees,  and  refreshed  by  fountains, 
so  that  as  the  edifices  ranged  above  each  other 
up  the  sides  of  the  hills,  they  presented  a  de- 
lightful appearance  of  mingled  grove  and  city. 
One  of  the  hills  was  surmounted  by  the  Alcaz- 
aba,  a   strong  fortress    commanding   all   that 
part  of  the  city  ;  the  other  by  the  Alhambra,  a 
royal  palace  and  warrior  castle,  capable  of  con- 
taining within  its  alcazar  and  towers  a  garrison 
of  forty  thousand  men,  but  possessing  also  its 
harem,  the  voluptuous  abode  of  the  Moorish 
monarchs,  laid  out  with  courts   and  gardens, 
fountains,  and   baths,  and   stately  halls  deco- 
rated in  the  most  costly  style  of  oriental  luxury. 
According  to  the  Moorish  tradition,  the  king 
who  built  this  mighty  and  magnificent  pile  was 
skilled   in   the  occult   sciences,  and  furnished 
himself  with  the  necessary  funds  by  means  of 
alchemy.     Such  was  its  lavish  splendor  that 
even  at  the  present  day  the  stranger,  wandering 
through   its  silent  courts  and  deserted  halls, 
gazes  with  astonishment  at  gilded  ceilings  and 

fretted  domes,  the  brilliancy  and  beauty  of 
12 


178        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

which  have  survived  the  vicissitudes  of  war  and 
the  silent  dilapidations  of  ages. 

"The  city  was  surrounded  by  high  walls 
three  leagues  in  circuit,  furnished  with  twelve 
gates  and  a  thousand  and  thirty  towers.  Its 
elevation  above  the  sea,  and  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Sierra  Nevada  crowned  with  perpetual 
snows,  tempered  the  fervid  rays  of  summer,  so 
that  while  other  cities  were  panting  with  the 
sultry  and  stifling  heat  of  the  dog-days,  the  most 
salubrious  breezes  played  through  the  marble 
halls  of  Granada. 

"  The  glory  of  the  city,  however,  was  its  vega 
or  plain,  which  spread  out  to  a  circumference  of 
thirty-seven  leagues,  surrounded  by  lofty  mount- 
ains, and  was  proudly  compared  to  the  famous 
plain  of  Damascus.  It  was-  a  vast  garden  of  de- 
light, refreshed  by  numerous  fountains,  and  by 
the  silver  windings  of  the  Xenil.  The  labor 
and  ingenuity  of  the  Moors  had  diverted  the 
waters  of  this  river  into  thousands  of  rills  and 
streams,  and  diffused  them  over  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  plain.  Indeed  they  had  wrought  up 
this  happy  region  to  a  wonderful  degree  of  pros- 
perity, and  took  a  pride  in  decorating  it  as  if  it 
had  been  a  favorite  mistress.  The  hills  were 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          179 

clothed  with  orchards  and  vineyards,  the  valleys 
embroidered  with  gardens,  and  the  wide  plains 
covered  with  waving  grain.  Here  were  seen  in 
profusion  the  orange,  the  citron,  the  fig,  and 
pomegranate,  with  great  plantations  of  mulberry- 
trees,  from  which  was  produced  the  finest  silk. 
The  vine  clambered  from  tree  to  tree,  the  grapes 
hung  in  rich  clusters  about  the  peasant's  cottage, 
and  the  groves  were  rejoiced  by  the  perpetual 
song  of  the  nightingale.  In  a  word  so  beautiful 
was  the  earth,  so  pure  the  air,  and  so  serene  the 
sky  of  this  delicious  region,  that  the  Moors  im- 
agined the  paradise  of  their  prophet  to  be  situa- 
ted in  that  part  of  the  heaven  which  overhung 
the  kingdom  of  Granada. 

"  Within  this  favored  realm,  so  prodigally  en- 
dowed, and  so  strongly  fortified  by  nature,  the 
Moslem  wealth,  valor,  and  intelligence  which 
had  once  shed  such  luster  over  Spain,  had 
gradually  retired,  and  here  they  made  their  final 
stand.  Granada  had  risen  to  splendor  on  the 
ruin  of  other  Moslem  kingdoms,  but  in  so  doing 
had  become  the  sole  object  of  Christian  hostility, 
and  had  to  maintain  its  very  existence  by  the 
sword.  The  Moorish  capital  accordingly  pre- 
sented a  singular  scene  of  Asiatic  luxury  and 


i8o        Memoir  of  Washington  Truing. 

refinement,  mingled  with  the  glitter  and  the  din 
of  arms.     Letters  were  still  cultivated,  philoso- 
phy and  poetry  had  their  schools  and  disciples, 
and  the  language  spoken  was   said  to  be  the 
most  elegant  Arabic.     A  passion  for  dress  and 
ornament  pervaded  all  ranks.     That  of  the  prin- 
cesses and  ladies  of  high  rank,  says  Al  Kattib, 
one  of  their  own  writers,  was  carried  to  a  height 
of  luxury  and  magnificence  that  bordered  on  de- 
lirium.    They  wore  girdles  and  bracelets,  and 
anklets  of  gold  and  silver  wrought  with  exquisite 
art  and  delicacy,   and  studded   with  jacinths, 
chrysolites,  emeralds,  and  other  precious  stones. 
They  were  fond  of  braiding  and  decorating  their 
beautiful  long  tresses,  or  confining  them  in  knots 
sparkling  with  jewels.    They  were  finely  formed, 
excessively  fair,  graceful  in  their  manners,  and 
fascinating  in  their  conversation.     '  When  they 
smiled/  says  Al  Kattib,  '  they  displayed  teeth 
of  dazzling  whiteness,  and  their  breath  was  as 
the  perfume  of  flowers/ 

"  The  Moorish  cavaliers,  when  not  in  armor, 
delight  in  dressing  themselves  in  Persian  style, 
in  garments  of  wool,  of  silk,  or  cotton,  of  the 
finest  texture,  beautifully  wrought  with  stripes 
of  various  colors.  In  winter  they  wore,  as  an 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          181 

outer  garment,  the  African  cloak  of  Tunisian 
albornoz  ;  but  in  the  heat  of  summer  they  ar- 
rayed themselves  in  linen  of  spotless  whiteness. 
The  same  luxury  prevailed  in  their  military 
equipments.  Their  armor  was  inlaid  and  chased 
with  gold  and  silver.  The  sheaths  of  their 
cimeters  were  richly  labored  and  enameled ; 
the  blades  were  of  Damascus,  bearing  texts 
from  the  Koran,  or  martial  and  amorous  mot- 
toes ;  the  belts  were  of  golden  filigree,  studded 
with  gems ;  their  poniards  of  Fez,  were  wrought 
in  the  arabesque  fashion  ;  their  lances  bore 
gay  banderoles ;  their  horses  were  sumptuously 
caparisoned  with  housings  of  green  and  crimson 
velvet,  wrought  with  silk,  and  enameled  with 
gold  and  silver.  All  this  warlike  luxury  of  the 
youthful  chivalry  was  encouraged  by  the  Moor- 
ish kings,  who  ordained  that  no  tax  should  be 
imposed  on  the  gold  and  silver  employed  in 
these  embellishments,  and  the  same  exception 
was  extended  to  the  bracelets  and  other  orna- 
ments worn  by  the  fair  dames  of  Granada. 

"  War  was  the  normal  state  of  Granada  and 
its  inhabitants.  The  common  people  were  sub- 
ject at  any  moment  to  be  summoned  to  the 
field,  and  all  the  upper  class  was  a  brilliant 


1 82        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

chivalry.  The  Christian  princes,  so  successful 
in  regaining  the  rest  of  the  peninsula,  found 
their  triumphs  checked  at  the  mountain  barriers 
of  this  kingdom.  Every  peak  had  its  atalaya  or 
watch-tower,  ready  to  make  its  fire  by  night,  or 
to  send  up  its  column  of  smoke  by  day,  a  signal 
of  invasion  at  which  the  whole  country  was  on 
the  alert.  To  penetrate  the  defiles  of  this 
perilous  country ;  to  surprise  a  frontier  fortress ; 
or  to  make  a  foray  into  the  vega  and  a  hasty 
ravage  within  sight  of  the  very  capital,  were 
among  the  most  favorite  and  daring  exploits  of 
the  Castilian  chivalry.  But  they  never  pre- 
tended to  hold  the  region  thus  ravaged  ;  it  was 
sack,  burn,  plunder,  and  away  !  and  these  deso- 
lating inroads  were  retaliated  in  kind  by  the 
Moorish  cavaliers,  whose  greatest  delight  was  a 
tala,  or  predatory  excursion  into  the  Christian 
territories  beyond  the  mountains." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         183 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ABOUT  this  time  Mr.  Irving' s  London  pub- 
lisher, Mr.  Murray,  proposed  to  him  the 
editorship  of  a  new  monthly  magazine  which  he 
was  intending  to  publish,  and  offered  him  a 
salary  of  five  thousand  dollars,  besides  a  liberal 
compensation  for  any  original  articles  of  his  own 
which  he  might  be  inclined  to  furnish.  Mr. 
Murray  also  offered  him  one  hundred  guineas 
per  article  for  any  contributions  to  the  Quarterly 
Review.  Both  of  these  offers  were  declined, 
the  former  for  the  reason  that  he  was  unwilling 
to  enter  into  any  permanent  engagements  that 
would  prevent  him  from  returning  to  his  native 
country,  which  he  was  now  longing  to  do ;  and 
he  declined  the  ofler  for  the  Review  articles, 
owing  to  its  hostility  to  the  United  States. 

About  the  first  of  November,  Irving  returned 
to  Seville,  where  he  shortly  received  a  letter 
from  his  brother  Peter  at  London,  notifying  him 
that  some  one  in  the^  United  States  was  prepar- 
ing an  abridgment  qf  his  "  History  of  Columbus/' 


1 84        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.. 

and  urging  him  to  forestall  this  undertaking, 
and  himself  to  provide  immediately  such  an 
abridgment.  Realizing  the  importance  of  this 
matter,  he  at  once  entered  upon  the  work,  and 
completed  it  in  nineteen  days,  making  a  book 
of  about  four  hundred  pages.  A  number  of 
hands  were  employed  in  copying  the  manuscript, 
and  in  a  little  more  than  a  month  from  the  day 
of  commencing  it  the  work  was  on  its  way  to 
America.  He  also  forwarded  a  manuscript  copy 
to  his  London  publisher  as  a  gratuity,  who  at 
once  disposed  of  an  entire  edition  often  thousand 
copies  as  one  of  the  volumes  of  his  Family  Li- 
brary. At  New  York  the  abridgment  was  dis- 
posed of  to  the  purchasers  of  the  first  una- 
bridged edition,  and  the  right  of  printing  a 
second  edition  of  the  latter,  together  with  the 
abridgment  for  five  years,  was  sold  to  the  same 
purchaser  for  six  thousand  dollars. 

Shortly  after  Irving's  return  to  Seville,  he 
received  news  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Hall,  who  had 
had  been  his  fellow-lodger  for  the  six  months 
past,  and  to  whom  he  had  become  very  much 
attached,  and  whose  death  he  very  sincerely 
mourned.  "  It  is  a  long  while,"  he  writes  to  a 
friend,  "since  I  h^ve  lived  in  such  domestic 


Memoir  of  Washington  Iming*         185 

intimacy  with  any  one  but  my  brother.  I  could 
not  have  thought  that  a  mere  stranger  in  so 
short  a  space  of  time  could  have  taken  such  a 
hold  upon  my  feelings." 

In  reviewing  at  its  close  the  year  1828,  Mr. 
Irving  speaks  of  it  as  a  year  of  much  literary 
application,  and  one  of  the  most  tranquil  of  his 
lite.  The  success  of  his  "  Columbus  "  had  been 
greater  than  anticipated,  and  had  given  him 
hopes  of  executing  something  of  greater  perma- 
nence than  what  he  could  reasonably  expect  for 
his  works  of  mere  imagination  ;  and  he  looked 
toward  the  future  with  a  cheerful  heart,  es- 
pecially as  he  now  was  anticipating  a  speedy 
return  to  his  native  country. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1829  Mr. 
Irving  was  honored  with  a  Diploma  as  Corre- 
sponding Member  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
History  at  Madrid.  During  the  winter  and 
beyond,  he  seems  to  be  again  resting  upon  his 
laurels.  There  is  not  much  moving  of  his  pen 
and  no  important  undertaking  is  on  hand.  His 
correspondence  indicates  a  longing  for  home, 
while  yet  he  feels  that  the  time  to  return  has 
not  yet  arrived.  He  anticipates  that  a  season 
of  dissipation  will  inevitably  follow  his  return, 


i  86       Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

when  he  would  not  for  some  time,  be  able  to 
resume  any  important  literary  labor.  Hence 
he  is  anxious  to  have  some  such  enterprise  in 
progress  so  far  that  it  can  be  carried  for- 
ward in  spite  of  any  slight  diversions  or  inter- 
ruptions. 

Nor  does  he  seem  in  readiness  to  leave  Spain, 
a  country  which,  together  with  its  people,  had 
for  Irving  a  special  attraction.'  Thus,  in  a  letter 
to  his  friend,  Prince  Dolgorouki,  he  writes,  "  I 
feel  so  attached  to  Spain  that  the  thoughts  of 
soon  leaving  it  are  extremely  painful  to  me ; 
and  it  will  be  gratifying  to  me  to  take  a  fare- 
well view  of  some  of  its  finest  scenes  in  com- 
pany with  one  who  knows  how  to  appreciate 
this  noble  country  and  noble  people." 

As  may  be  inferred  from  the  above  extract, 
the  two  gentlemen  had  planned  an  excursion 
together  to  some  of  the  more  interesting  cities 
of  Spain,  and  about  the  middle  of  April,  1829, 
the  Prince  arrives  at  Seville  from  Madrid.  On 
May-day  the  two  travelers  set  off  together,  on 
horseback  for  Granada,  when,  after  a  pleasant 
journey  of  five  days,  they  arrive  safely.  After 
a  twelve  days'  sojourn  at  a  hotel,  they  change 
their  quarters  for  the  Governor's  vacant  apart- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         \  87 

mcnts  in  the  palace  of  the  Alhambra.  Here, 
as  may  well  be^supposcd,  Mr.  Irving  was  in  his 
element,  and  was  accommodated  in  accordance 
with  his  heart's  best  wishes.  It  appears  that 
they  had  obtained  permission  from  the  Govern- 
or to  occupy  one  or  two  of  his  own  apart- 
ments ;  "  and  you  may  easily  imagine,"  he 
writes  to  his  brother  Peter,  "how  delightfully 
we  arc  lodged,  with  the  whole  pile  at  our  com- 
mand, to  ramble  over  its  halls  and  courts  at  all 
hours  of  day  and  night  without  control.  The 
part  we  inhabit  is  intended  for  the  Governor's 
quarters ;  but  he  prefers  at  present  residing 
clown  in  the  city.  We  have  an  excellent  old 
dame,  and  her  good  humored,  bright-eyed  niece, 
who  have  charge  of  the  Alhambra,  who  arrange 
our  rooms,  meals,  etc.,  with  the  assistance  of  a 
tall  servant-boy ;  and  thus  we  live,  quietly, 
snugly,  and  without  any  restraint,  elevated 
above  the  world  and  its  troubles." 

In  a  few  days  Prince  Dolgorouki  sets  off  to 
pursue  his  travels  through  Andalusia  ;  and  Irv- 
ing seems  to  have  been  left  in  sole  possession 
of  the  palace.  He  writes  of  feeling  at  first 
somewhat  "lonely  and  doleful."  For  a  time 
the  weather  was  wet  and  cold,  and  there  was  a 


1 88        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

cheerless  aspect  around  those  marble  and  lofty 
halls".  But  pleasant  weather  and  balmy  sun- 
shine came  at  length,  and  restored  all  the  charms 
of  the  Alhambra.  Soon,  also,  he  is  again  at  work 
among  his  books  and  manuscripts,  and  becomes 
busy  and  cheerful.  "  I  breakfast,"  says  he,  "  in 
the  saloons  of  the  embassadors,  or  among  the 
flowers  and  fountains  in  the  Court  of  the  Lions  ; 
and  when  I  am  not  occupied  with  my  pen  I 
lounge  with  my  book  about  these  oriental  apart- 
ments, or  stroll  about  the  courts  and  gardens 
and  arcades,  by  day  or  night,  with  no  one  to 
interrupt  me.  It  absolutely  appears  to  me  like 
a  dream,  or  as  if  I  am  spell-bound  in  some  fairy 
palace." 

On  the  loth  of  June  Irving  finished  his 
work  entitled  "  Legends  of  the  Conquest  of 
Spain,"  a  production  which  was  not  published 
till  several  years  afterward.  About  the  same 
time  he  received  notice  of  his  appointment  as 
"  Secretary  of  Legation  to  London  " — a  piece  of 
intelligence  which  seems  to  have  given  him  but 
little  pleasure,  as  such  an  office  would  proba- 
bly interfere  very  seriously  with  all  his  literary 
plans.  "  I  confess,"  he  writes  to  a  friend,  "  I 
feel  extremely  reluctant  to  give  up  my  quiet 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         1 89 

and  independent  mode  of  life,  and  am  exces- 
sively perplexed.  There  are  many  private 
reasons  that  urge  me  on,  independent  of  the 
wishes  of  my  friends,  while  my  antipathy  to  the 
bustle  there,  and  business  of  the  world,  incline  ' 
me  to  hold  back.  I  only  regret  that  I  have  not 
been  left  entirely  alone,  and  to  dream  away  life 
in  my  own  way." 

This  appointment,  as  may  well  be  guessed, 
was  brought  about  through  the  agency  of  cer- 
tain friends  at  home,  and  on  his  part  was  neither 
sought  for  nor  desired.     He  was  now  entirely 
absorbed  in  literary  plans  and  enterprises,  and 
in  this  line  of  effort  he  had  settled  down  as  to 
his  life-work,  and  deprecated  every  interference 
with  it  for  any  extraneous  purpose.     After  de- 
ciding to  accept  the  appointment,  he  determined, 
however,  that  should  he  find  the  office  irksome 
in  any  respect,  or  detrimental  to  his  literary 
plans,  he  would   at  once  throw   it  up,   being 
happily  independent  of  it,  "  both  as  to  circum- 
stances and  as  to  ambition."     Sentiments  en- 
tirely   similar   he    expresses   to    Mr.  Everett, 
alleging  that  the  office  was  unsought  whether 
by  himself  or  his  relatives ;  that  he  had  no  incli- 
nation for  office,  and  was  doubtful  that  he  had 


I  go        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

any  turn  for  it ;  that  his  recluse  literary  life  had 
well-nigh  unfitted  him  for  worldly  business  and 
bustle,  and  he  had  no  political  ambition  to  be 
gratified.  He  seems  to  have  accepted  the  office 
more  to  please  his  friends  than  himself,  deter- 
mined, however,  that  as  the  place  was  unsought 
and  undesired  by  him,  so,  in  accepting  it,  he 
would  commit  himself  to  no  set  of  men  or 
measures,  but,  as  heretofore,  keep  himself  as 
clear  as  possible  of  all  party  politics,  and  con- 
tinue to  devote  all  his  spare  time  to  general 
literature. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         191 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

AFTER  nearly  three  months  of  delightful 
residence  at  the  Alhambra,  Mr.  Irving, 
about  the  last  of  July,  commenced  his  journey 
toward  England.  His  departure  was  to  him 
like  leaving  a  safe  and  tranquil  port  to  embark 
upon  a  stormy  and  treacherous  sea.  Time 
with  him  had  passed  there  as  in  a  kind  of  ori- 
ental dream.  "  Never  shall  I  meet  on  earth 
with  an  abode  so  much  to  my  taste,  or  -so 
suited  to  my  habits  and  pursuits.  The  sole 
fault  was  that  the  softness  of  the  climate,  the 
silence  and  serenity  of  the  place,  the  odor  of 
flowers  and  the  murmur  of  fountains,  had  a 
soothing  and  voluptuous  effect  that  at  times 
almost  incapacitated  me  for  work,  and  made 
me  feel  like  the  Knight  of  Industry  when  so 
pleasingly  inthralled  in  the  Castle  of  Indo- 
lence." 

He  was  accompanied  by  a  young  English- 
man, an  educated  gentleman,  who  was  on  his 
way  homeward.  They  traveled  as  far  as  to 


192        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Valencia  in  a  sort  of  horse-cart,  in  which  they 
could  sit  or  recline  at  pleasure  ;  and,  where  the 
roads  were  pleasant,  they  walked  extensively. 
Their  progress  toward  Valencia  averaged  about 
thirty   miles   a  day,   the   route   lying  through 
Murcia,  Orchuela,  and  Alicante.     He  describes 
the  country  embracing  these  localities  as  highly 
romantic  and  delightful,  level  as  a  table,  and  a 
vast  garden   land,   covered   for  many  leagues 
with  groves  of  oranges,  citrons,  pomegranates, 
palms,  and  dates,  bordered  in  the  distance  by 
towering  mountains,  picturesque  in  outline,  and 
sublime  from  their  very  nakedness  and  sterility. 
A  part  of  their  route  was  infested  by  robbers, 
but  the  travelers  escaped  disturbance  or  harm, 
and  came  in  eleven  or  twelve  days  to  Valencia. 
After  a  day  or  two  the  travelers  took  the  dili- 
gence for  Barcelona.      Here   Mr.   Irving  was 
detained  several  days  by  the  sickness  of  Mr. 
Snead,  his  fellow-traveler,  after  which  they  set 
out  for  France,  Mr.  S.  being  still  feeble  ;  yet 
such  was  his  anxiety  to  reach  home  that  they 
traveled  nine  days  and  nights  incessantly  until 
they  reached  Paris.     All  this  was  too  much  for 
the  unfortunate  young  gentleman,  and  he  died 
shortly  after  reaching  home.     It  seemed  a  spe- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         193 

daily  melancholy  death,  as  he  was  a  young  man 
of  fortune  and  brilliant  prospects,  and  was  about 
to  be  married.  "  The  scenes,"  says  Irving,  "  I 
had  with  his  afflicted  parents  are  too  painful  to 
be  repeated." 

After  remaining  a  fortnight  at  Paris  with  his 
brother  Peter  he  proceeded  to  London,  from 
which  he  had  been  absent  between  five  and  six 
years.     He  soon  became  established  in  his  sec- 
retaryship, and  the  following  note  to  his  brother 
Peter  at  Paris  seems  to  indicate  that  he  had 
begun  to  be  considerably  reconciled  to  his  new 
position :  "  I  feel  disposed,  now  that  I  am  in 
diplomatic  life,  to  give  it  some  little  trial     The . 
labors  are  not  great,  especially  in  my  present 
situation.     It  introduces  me  to  scenes  and  af- 
fairs of  high  interest,  and  in  that  way,  perhaps, 
prepares  me  for  higher  intellectual  labors.    The 
very  kind  and  flattering  manner,  also,  in  which 
I  am  treated  in  all  circles  is  highly  gratifying." 
His  lodgings  were  immediately  opposite  the 
Legation,  the  office  of  which  was  very  comfort- 
able and  entirely  at  his  command.     His  duties 
were  comparatively  light,  while  his  social  posi- 
tion and  relations  were,  of  course,  all  he  could 

desire.      Meanwhile  the  avails  of  his  works 
13 


194        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

published  in  London  and  New  York  had  al- 
ready secured  to  him  a  competence,  so  that  he 
was  no  longer  under  any  necessity  of  writing 
for  bread. 

Under  these  pleasant  circumstances  he  pens 
the  following  sunny  note  to  Peter :  "  My  idea 
is  not  to  drudge  at  literary  labor,  but  to  use  it 
as  an  agreeable  employment.  We  have  now 
sufficient  funds  to  insure  us  a  decent  support 
should  we  choose  to  retire  upon  them.  We 
may,  therefore,  indulge  in  the  passing  pleasures 
of  life,  and  mingle  amusement  with  our  labors." 
Mr.  Irving  was  at  this  early  period  contem- 
plating as  his  great  work  and  crowning  labor,  a 
life  of  Washington,  an  enterprise,  however, 
which  was  destined  to  be  deferred  for  many 
years. 

Two  other  literary  honors  were  now  awaiting 
him :  the  first,  one  of  the  two  medals  of  the 
Royal  Society  of  Literature  adjudged  annually 
to  the  authors  of  literary  works  of  eminent 
merit  or  of  important  literary  discoveries  ;  the 
other  honor  was  that  of  the  degree  of  LL.D., 
conferred  on  him  by  the  University  of  Oxford. 
On  this  occasion,  advancing  in  the  presence  of 
the  great  audience  to  receive  his  diploma,  he 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         195 

was  assailed  with  prolonged  and  laughable 
greetings  from  the  students,  shouting  Diedrich 
Knickerbocker,  Ichabod  Crane,  Rip  Van  Win- 
kle, Geoffrey  Crayon,  Columbus,  Sketch-Book, 
Bracebridge  Hall,  etc.  He  was  quite  overcome 
by  such  a  volley  of  salutations,  and"  was  labor- 
ing meanwhile  with  suppressed  laughter  at  the 
unexpected  and  vociferous  applause. 

The  modesty  of  Irving  is  said  to  have  pre- 
vented him  from  ever  making  use  of  his  honor- 
able title,  and  from  so  honorable  a  source.  He 
was  accustomed  to  view  it  as  a  learned  dignity 
urged  upon  him  against  his  own  judgment 


196        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

HAVING  been  a  year  in  his  secretaryship, 
we  find  Mr.  Irving  putting  to  press  his 
"Voyages  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus."* 
At  the  same  time  he  was  employed  upon  his 
Alhambra  tales,  several  of  which  he  had  already 
finished.  He  begins,  however,  to  feel  sensibly 
the  trammels  connected  with  his  official  posi- 
tion, and  complains  that  he  has  no  time  for  any 
thing.  "  I  feel  my  situation,"  he  says,  "  a  ter- 
rible sacrifice  of  pleasure,  profit,  and  literary 
reputation  without  furnishing  any  recompense." 

It  is  not  strange  that  with  such  feelings  as 
these  Irving  should  be  inclined  to  seize  the  first 
opportunity  to  retire  from  his  office.  Accord- 
ingly in  September,  1831,  he  was  released,  after 
having  served  two  years  at  the  Legation. 

The  remainder  of  the  year  he  seems  to  have 
devoted  to  visiting  his  Birmingham  relation.*, 

*  This  work  of  Irving  seems  to  have  been  designed  as  a  sort 
of  appendage  to  his  Columbus,  It  comprised  an  account  of 
voyages  undertaken  by  several  distinguished  navigators 
after  the  first  discovery  by  Columbus. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         197 

and  excursions  to  various  other  interesting 
places.  Among  these  last  was  Newstead  Ab- 
bey,* once  the  possession  and  seat  of  Lord 
Byron.  Meanwhile  he  was  busy  in  finishing 
and  correcting  some  manuscripts,  complaining, 
however,  of  restlessness  and  uncertainty  of 
mind  and  feelings  tending  to  interference  with 
imaginative  writing. 

The  "  Alhambra,"  which  had  been  for  some 
time  on  hand,  was  put  to  press  in  the  ensuing 
spring,  and,  as  usual,  at  New  York  and  London. 
The  London  publisher  paid  about  $5,000  for 
the  manuscript,  and  at  New  York  he  received 
$3,000  for  the  privilege  of  printing  5,500  copies. 
Also  for  his  "  Voyages  "  above  mentioned  he 
received  at  London  $2,600,  and  at  New  York 
$1,500  for  3,000  copies. 

Mr.  Irving  now  made  diligent  preparation  for 

*  The  former  seat  of  Lord  Byron,  who,  by  stress  of  circum- 
stances, was  obliged  to  part  with  it,  to  his  very  great  regret.  It 
was  purchased  by  a  devoted  friend  of  the  bard,  who  expended 
large  sums  to  put  the  old  abbey  in  complete  repair.  Irving 
writes  in  1831,  about  the  time  he  visited  it,  that  "It  is  a  most 
ancient,  curious,  and  beautiful  pile,  of  great  extent  and  intric- 
acy, and,  when  restored,  will  be  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
the  mingled  conventual  and  baronial  buildings  in  England. 
Every  thing  relative  to  Lord  Byron  is  preserved  with  the  most 
scrupulous  care.  The  bedroom  he  occupied,  with  all  Us  fur- 
niture as  it  stood,  many  of  his  books,  his  boxing  gloves,  etc." 


198         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

returning  to  the  United  States,  and,  embarking 
at  Havre  April  u,  he  arrived  at  New  York 
after  a  passage  of  forty  days. 

As  might  be  supposed,  he  met  a  most  cordial 
reception,  and  rejoiced  greatly  as,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  seventeen  years,  he  touched  again  the 
soil  of  his  native  city.  In  a  letter  to  his  brother 
Peter,  whom  he  left  behind  him  in  Europe,  he 
writes,  "I  have  been  absolutely  overwhelmed 
with  the  welcomes  and  felicitations  of  my  friends. 
It  seems  as  if  all  the  old  slanders  of  the  city  had 
called  on  me  ;  and  I  am  continually  in  the 
midst  of  old  associates  who,  thank  God !  have 
borne  the  wearand  tear  of  seventeen  years  sur- 
prisingly, and  are  all  in  good  health,  good  looks, 
and  good  circumstances.  ...  I  have  been  in  a 
tumult  of  enjoyment  ever  since  my  arrival,  am 
pleased  with  every  thing  and  every  body,  and  as 
happy  as  mortal  being  can  be." 

A  public  dinner  was  accorded  to  him  in  New 
York,  attended  by  the  elite  of  the  city,  which 
was  presided  over  by  Chancellor  Kent,  and  was 
a  most  deeply  interesting  occasion.  Public 
dinners  were  also  proffered  him  at  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore,  both  of  which,  however,  he 
declined. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         199 

After  his  arrival  home  Mr.  Irving  devoted 
several  weeks  to  various  visits  and  excursions. 
He  takes  an  early  opportunity  to  visit  Washing- 
ton, to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Government  he 
had,  for  a  brief  period,  been   serving  abroad. 
Mr.  M'Lean,  with  whom  he  was  associated  at 
London,  was  now  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
with  whom  and  his  family,  Irving  spent  some 
delightful  days,  and  was  received  most  cordially 
by  all  the  family,  great  and  small.     He  also 
called  on  the  President,  (Jackson,)  with  whom 
he  seems  to  have  been  "  much  pleased  as  well 
as  amused,"  and  who  hinted  to  his  visitor  that 
he  might  want  him  for  another  place  under  the 
Government.     But  Irving  gave  him  to  under- 
stand clearly  that  he  desired  no  further  public 
responsibilities  ;  and  he  seems  at  this  time  to 
be  entirely  settled  in  his  mind  to  an  exclusively 
literary  life. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  we  track  him 
up  the  Hudson — at  West  Point,  the  Highlands, 
Tarrytown,  Saratoga,  Trenton  Falls,  and  the 
White  Mountains.  Every-where  he  is  full  of 
animation  and  delight,  and  tells  his  brother 
Peter,  over  the  sea,  of  the  pleasant  times  he  is 
having.  "  In  fact,  I  return  to  all  the  simple  enjoy- 


2OO        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ments  of  old  times  with  the  renovated  feelings 
of  a  school-boy,  and  have  had  more  hearty, 
home-bred  delights  of  the  kind  since  my  return 
to  the  United  States  than  I  have  ever  had  in 
the  same  space  of  time  in  the  whole  course  of 
my  life." 

The  autumn  he  devoted  to  a  tour  to  the  Far 
West,  in  company  with  commissioners  appointed 
by  Government  to  treat  with  deputations  of 
different  tribes  of  Indians.  This  tour  took  him 
into  the  territory  lying  west  of  Arkansas,  and 
appropriated  to  the  Indian  tribes.  The  journey 
westward  from  St.  Louis  was  mainly  on  horse- 
back, and  beyond  the  frontiers  they  encamped 
out  at  night,  while  their  subsistence  was  by  the 
wild  game  of  the  forest  and  prairie.  He  describes 
his  tour  as  very  rough,  but  interesting  and  pleas- 
ing, the  travelers  leading,  as  they  went,  a  hunt- 
er's life,  camping  by  streams  and  sleeping  on 
skins  or  blankets  in  the  open  air,  enjoying  high 
health  and  exuberant  spirits.  His  return  was 
by  way  of  steamboat  down  the  Arkansas  and 
Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence,  by  stage, 
through  the  States  to  Washington,  where  he 
passed  the  winter  very  pleasantly  with  his  friends 
the  M'Leans.  Here  he  became  intensely  inter- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        201 

ested  in  the  great  Nullification  debates  then 
going  forward.  "  I  became,"  he  says,  "  so  deeply 
interested  in  the  debates  of  Congress  that  I 
almost  lived  at  the  Capitol.  The  grand  debate 
in  the  Senate  occupied  my  mind  for  three  weeks 
as  did  ever  a  dramatic  representation.  I  heard 
about  every  speech,  good  and  bad,  and  did  not 
lose  a  word  of  any  of  the  best."  He  afterward 
adds,  "  I  think  my  close  attendance  on  the  leg- 
islative halls  has  given  me  an  acquaintance  with 
the  nature  and  operation  of  our  institutions,  and 
the  character  and  concerns  of  the  various  parts 
of  the  Union,  that  I  could  not  have  learned 
from  books  for  years." 

Leaving  Washington  for  New  York,  we  find 
him  detained  three  weeks  at  Baltimore,  en- 
thralled in  the  abundant  hospitality  of  the  city, 
"  going  the  round  of  dinners,"  he  says,  "'until 
as  jaded  as  I  was  in  London.  Time  and  mind 
are  cut  up  with  me  like  chopped  hay,  and  I  am 
good  for  nothing,  and  shall  be  good  for  nothing 
for  some  time  to  come,  so  much  am  I  harassed 
by  the  claims  of  society." 

Thus,  amid  his  various  travels,  excursions, 
and  visitings,  more  than  a  year  seems  to  have 
passed,  after  his  arrival  from  abroad,  before  Mr. 


2O2        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving, 

Irving  could  seriously  set  himself  to  work  with 
his  pen.  In  the  meantime  he  again  incurred 
some  serious  pecuniary  reverse,  which,  however, 
disturbed  him  but  slightly,  as  he  had  an  abun- 
dance remaining.  During  the  second  winter 
after  his  return  from  abroad,  he  was  again  dili- 
gently at  his  literary  labors  and  progressing 
therein  satisfactorily.  He  was  domiciled  in  the 
family  of  his  brother  Ebenezer,  and  managed  to 
keep  himself  clear  of  evening  engagements  and 
dinner  parties,  and  thus  was  enabled  to  improve 
the  winter  to  the  utmost. 

We  subjoin  here  a  single  extract  from   the 
"Companions  of  Columbus."     It  relates  to  the 
discovery  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  by  Vasco  Nunez. 
" '  Why/  said  the  young  cacique,  '  should  you 
quarrel  for  such  a  trifle  ?    If  this  gold  is  indeed 
so  precious  in  your  eyes  that  for  it  alone  you 
abandon  your  homes,  invade  the  peaceful  lands 
of  others,  and  expose  yourselves  to  such  suffer- 
ings  and   perils,    I  will   tell  you  of  a   region 
where  you   may  gratify  your   wishes   to   the 
utmost.     Behold  these  lofty  mountains  ;  beyond 
these  lies  a  mighty  sea  which  may  be  discerned 
from  their  summit.     It  is  navigated  by  people 
who  have  vessels  almost  as  large  as  yours,  and 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  203 

furnished  like  them  with  sails  and  oars.  All 
the  streams  which  flow  down  from  the  southern 
side  of  these  mountains  into  that  sea  abound  in 
gold,  and  the  Kings  who  reign  upon  its  borders 
eat  and  drink  out  of  golden  vessels.  Gold,  in 
fact,  is  as  plentiful  and  common  among  these 
people  of  the  South  as  iron  is  among  Span- 
iards/ .  .  . 

"The  day  had  scarce  dawned  when  Vasco 
Nunez  and  his  followers  set  forth  from  the  Indian 
village  and  began  to  climb  the  height.      It  was 
a  severe  and  rugged  toil  for  one  so  way-worn  ; 
but  they  were  filled  with  new  ardor  at  the  idea 
of  the  triumphant  scene  that  was  so  soon  to  re- 
pay them  for  all  hardships.    About  ten  o'clock 
in  the  morning  they  emerged  from  the  thick 
forests  through  which  they  had  hitherto  strug- 
gled, and  arrived  at  a  lofty  and  airy  region  of 
the  mountain.    The  bold  summit  alone  remained 
to  be  ascended,  and  their  guides  pointed  to  a 
moderate  eminence  from  which  the  southern 
sea  was  visible. 

"  Upon  this  Vasco  Nunez  commanded  his  fol- 
lowers to  halt,  and  that  no  man  should  stir  from 
his  place.  Then,  with  a  palpitating  heart,  he 
ascended  alone  the  bare  mountain-top.  On 


204        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

reaching  the  summit  the  long-desired  prospect 
burst  upon  his  view.  It  was  as  if  a  new  world 
were  unfolded  to  him,  separated  from  all  hitherto 
known  by  this  mighty  barrier  of  mountains. 
Below  him  extended  a  vast  chaos  of .  rock  and 
forest,  and  green  savannas  and  wandering 
streams  ;  while  at  a  distance  the  waters  of  the 
promised  ocean  glittered  in  the  morning  sun. 

"  At  this  glorious  prospect  Vasco  Nunez  sank 
upon  his  knees,  and  poured  out  thanks  to  God 
for  being  the  first  European  to  whom  it  was 
given  to  make  that  great  discovery.  He  then 
called  his  people  to  ascend.  '  Behold,  my  friends,* 
said  he,  '  that  glorious  sight  which  we  have  so 
much  desired.  Let  us  give  thanks  to  God  that 
he  has  granted  us  this  great  honor  and  advan- 
tage/ » 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving*         205 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

HHHE  "Alhambra"  met  a  most  cordial  re- 
-!•  ccption  from  every  quarter,  and  received 
much  praise  at  home  and  abroad.  Edward 
Everett,  in  the  "  North  American  Review," 
considered  the  work  as  being  equal  in  literary 
value  to  any  of  the  author's  other  works,  except 
the  "  Sketch  Book ;"  while  Mr.  Prescott,  in  his 
"  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,"  pronounces  it  the 
"  beautiful  Spanish  Sketch  Book." 

The  author's  sketch  of  his  journey  from  Se- 
ville to  Granada  is  highly  instructive  as  well  as 
interesting,  presenting  to  us,  as  it  does,  so  pic- 
turesque a  view  of  Spanish  scenery,  mode  of 
traveling,  etc.  "Many,"  he  writes,  "are  apt  to 
picture  Spain  to  their  imaginations  as  a  soft 
southern  region,  decked  out  with  all  the  lux- 
urious charms  of  voluptuous  Italy.  On  the 
contrary,  though  there  are  exceptions  in  some 
of  the  maritime  provinces,  yet  for  the  greater 
part  it  is  a  stern,  melancholy  country,  with  rug- 
ged mountains  and  long,  naked,  sweeping  plains 


206         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

destitute  of  trees,  and  invariably  silent  and  lone- 
some, partaking  of  the  savage  and  solitary  char- 
acter of  Africa.  What  adds  to  this  silence  and 
loneliness  is  the  absence  of  singing  birds,  a 
natural  consequence  of  the  want  of  groves  and 
hedges.  The  vulture  and  the  eagle  are  seen 
wheeling  about  the  mountain  cliffs,  and  soaring 
over  the  plains,  and  groups  of  shy  bustards 
stalk  about  the  heaths  ;  but  the  myriads  of 
smaller  birds  which  animate  the  whole  face  of 
other  countries  are  met  with  in  but  few  prov- 
inces of  Spain,  and  in  them  chiefly  among  the 
orchards  and  gardens  which  surround  the  hab- 
itations of  man. 

"  In  the  exterior  provinces  the  traveler  occa- 
sionally traverses  great  tracts  cultivated  with 
grain  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  waving  at 
times  with  verdure,  at  other  times  naked  and 
sunburnt ;  but  he  looks  round  in  vain  for  the 
hand  that  has  tilled  the  soil.  At  length  he 
perceives  some  village  perched  on  a  steep  hill 
or  rugged  crag,  with  moldering  battlements 
and  ruined  watch-tower,  a  stronghold  in  old 
times  against  civil  war  or  Moorish  inroad  ;  for 
the  custom  among  the  peasantry  of  congregat- 
ing together  for  mutual  protection  is  still  kept 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         207 

up  in  most  parts  of  Spain  in  consequence  of 
the  maraudings  of  roving  freebooters. 

"  But  a  great  part  of  Spain  is  deficient  in  the 
garniture  of  groves  and  forests,  and  the  softer 
charms  of  ornamental  cultivation,  yet  its  scen- 
ery has  something  of  a  high  and  lofty  character 
to  compensate  the  want.  It  partakes  some- 
thing of  the  attributes  of  its  people,  and  I  think 
that  I  better  understand  the  proud,  hardy,  fru- 
gal, and  abstemious  Spaniard,  his  manly  defi- 
ance of  hardships  and  contempt  of  effeminate 
indulgence,  since  I  have  seen  the  country  he 
inhabits. 

"  There  is  something,  too,  in  the  stern  and 
simple  features  of  the  Spanish  landscape  that 
impresses  on  the  soul  a  feeling  of  sublimity. 
The  immense  plains  of  the  Castiles  and  La 
Mancha,  extending  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
derive  an  interest  from  their  very  nakedness 
and  immensity,  and  have  something  of  the  sol- 
emn grandeur  of  the  ocean.  In  ranging  over 
these  boundless  wastes  the  eye  catches  sight 
here  and  there  of  a  straggling  herd  of  cattle 
attended  by  a  lonely  herdsman,  motionless  as  a 
statue,  with  his  long,  slender  pike  tapering  up 
like  a  lance  into  the  air;  or  beholds  a  long 


208        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

train  of  mules  slowly  moving  along  the  waste 
like  "a  train  of  camels  in  a  desert ;  or  a  single 
herdsman,  armed  with  blunderbuss  and  stiletto, 
prowling  over  the  plain.     Thus  the  country, 
the  habits,  the  very  looks  of  the  people,  have 
something  of  the  Arabian  character.     The  gen- 
eral insecurity  of  the  country  is  evinced  in  the 
universal  use  of  weapons.     The  herdsman  in 
the  field,  the  shepherd  in   the  plain,  has  his 
musket  and  his  knife.     The  wealthy  villager 
rarely  ventures  to  the  market-town  without  his 
trabucho,  and,  perhaps,  a  servant  on  foot  with  a 
blunderbuss  on  his  shoulder ;  and  the  most  petty 
journey  is  undertaken  with  the  preparations  of 
a  warlike  enterprise. 

"  The  dangers  of  the  road  produce  also  a  mode 
of  traveling  resembling,  on  a  diminutive  scale, 
the  caravans  of  the  East.  The  arrieros,  or  car- 
riers, congregate  in  troops,  and  set  off  in  large 
and  well-armed  trains  on  appointed  days,  while 
individual  travelers  swell  their  number  and 
contribute  to  their  strength.  In  this  primitive 
way  is  the  commerce  of  the  country  carried  on. 
The  muleteer  is  the  general  medium  of  traffic 
and  the  legitimate  wanderer  of  the  land,  trav- 
ersing the  Peninsula  from  the  Pyrenees  and  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         209 

Asturias  to  the  Alpuxarras,  the  Serrania  de 
Ronda,  and  even  to  the  gates  of  Gibraltar.  He 
lives  frugally  and  hardily.  His  alforjas  (or  sad- 
dle-bags) of  coarse  cloth  hold  his  scanty  stock 
of  provisions,  a  leathern  bottle  hanging  at  his 
saddle-bow  contains  wine  or  water  for  a  supply 
across  barren  mountains  and  thirsty  plains,  a 
mule-cloth  spread  upon  the  ground  is  his  bed 
at  night,  and  his  pack-saddle  is  his  pillow.  His 
low  but  clear-limbed  and  sinewy  form  beto- 
kens strength  ;  his  complexion  is  dark  and  sun- 
burnt, his  eye  resolute,  but  quiet  in  its  ex- 
pression, except  when  kindled  by  sudden  emo- 
tion ;  his  demeanor  is  frank,  manly,  and  cour- 
teous, and  he  never  passes  you  without  a  grave 
salutation  :  '  God  guard  you !  God  be  with  you, 
cavalier ! ' 

"  As  these  men  have  often  their  whole  for- 
tune at  stake  upon  the  burden  of  their  mules, 
they  have  their  weapons  at  hand,  slung  to  their 
saddles,  and  ready  to  be  snatched  down  for 
desperate  defense.  But  their  united  numbers 
render  them  secure  against  petty  bands  of  ma- 
rauders, and  the  solitary  bandalero,  (robber,) 
armed  to  the  teeth,  and  mounted  on  his  Anda- 

lusian  steed,  hovers  about  them  like  a  pirate 
14 


2io        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

about  a  merchant  convoy,  without  daring  to 
make  an  assault.  .  . . 

"  It  has  a  most  picturesque  effect,  also,  to 
meet  a  train  of  muleteers  in  some  mountain 
pass.  First  you  hear  the  bells  of  the  leading 
mules  breaking  with  their  simple  melody  the 
stillness  of  the  airy  height,  or  perhaps  the  voice 
of  the  muleteer  admonishing  some  tardy  or 
wandering  animal,  or  chanting  at  the  full 
stretch  of  his  lungs  some  traditionary  ballad. 
At  length  you  see  the  mules  slowly  winding 
along  the  craggy  defile,  sometimes  descending 
precipitous  cliffs,  so  as  to  present  themselves  in 
full  relief  against  the  sky,  sometimes  toiling  up 
the  deep  arid  chasms  below  you.  As  they  ap- 
proach you  descry  their  gay  decorations  of 
worsted  tufts,  tassels,  and  saddle-cloths  ;  while, 
as  they  pass  by,  the  ever-ready  trabucho,  slung 
behind  their  packs  and  saddles,  gives  a  hint  of 
the  insecurity  of  the  road. 

"  The  ancient  kingdom  of  Granada,  into 
which  we  are  about  to  penetrate,  is  one  of  the 
most  mountainous  regions  of  Spain.  Vast 
sierras,  or  chains  of  mountains,  destitute  of 
shrub  or  tree  and  mottled  with  variegated 
marbles  and  granites,  elevate  their  sun-burnt 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         2 1 1 

summits  against  a  deep  blue  sky,  yet  in  their 
rugged  bosoms  lie  engulfed  the  most  verdant 
and  fertile  valleys,  where  the  desert  and  the 
garden  strive  for  mastery,  and  the  very  rock,  as 
it  were,  is  compelled  to  yield  the  fig,  the  orange, 
and  the  citron,  and  to  blossom  with  the  myrtle 
and  the  rose.  In  the  wild  passes  of  these 
mountains  the  sight  of  walled  towns  and  vil- 
lages, built  like  eagles'  nests  among  the  cliffs, 
and  surrounded  by  Moorish  battlements,  or  of 
ruined  watch-towers  perched  on  lofty  peaks, 
carry  the  mind  back  to  the  chivalrous  days  of 
Christian  and  Moslem  warfare,  and  to  the  ro- 
mantic struggle  for  the  conquest  of  Granada. 
In  traversing  these  lofty  sierras  the  traveler  is 
often  obliged  to  alight  and  lead  his  horse  up 
and  down  the  steep  and  jagged  ascents  and 
descents,  resembling  the  broken  steps  of  a 
staircase.  Sometimes  the  road  winds  along 
dizzy  precipices,  without  parapet  to  guard  him 
from  the  gulfs  below,  and  then  will  plunge 
down  steep  and  dark  and  dangerous  declivities. 
Sometimes  it  struggles  through  rugged  baran- 
cos,  or  ravines,  worn  by  water-torrents,  the 
obscure  paths  of  the  contrabandista,  (smug- 
glers ;)  while  ever  and  anon  the  ominous  cross, 


212        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

the  memento  of  robbery  and  murder,  erected 
on  a  mound  of  stones  at  some  lonely  part  of  the 
road,  admonishes  the  traveler  that  he  is  among 
the  haunts  of  banditti,  perhaps  at  that  very 
moment  under  the  eye  of  some  lurking  banda- 
lero.  Sometimes  in  winding  through  the  nar- 
row valleys  he  is  startled  by  a  hoarse  bellowing, 
and  beholds  above  him  on  some  green  fold  of 
the  mountain  side  a  herd  of  fierce  Andalusian 
bulls  destined  for  the  combat  of  the  arena. 
There  is  something  awful  in  the  contemplation 
of  these  terrific  animals,  clothed  with  tremen- 
dous strength,  and  ranging  their  native  pastures 
in  untamed  wilclness,  strangers  almost  to  the 
face  of  man.  They  know  no  one  but  the  'soli- 
tary herdsman  who  attends  upon  them,  and 
even  he  at  times  dares  not  venture  to  approach 
them.  The  low  bellowings  of  these  bulls,  and 
their  menacing  aspect  as  they  look  down  from 
their  rocky  height,  give  additional  wildness  to 
the  savage  scenery  around." 

On  reaching  Granada  and  entering  the  palace 
of  the  Alhambra,  and  walking  meditatively  amid 
its  ancient  halls,  he  feels  himself  to  be  treading 
upon  haunted  ground,  while  romantic  associa- 
tions cluster  thickly  around  him. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         2 1 3 

"  From  earliest  boyhood,  when,  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson,  I  first  pored  over  the  pages  of 
an  old  Spanish  story  about  the  wars  of  Granada, 
that  city  has  ever  been  a  subject  of  my  waking 
dreams,  and  often  have  I  trod  in  fancy  the  ro- 
mantic halls  of  the  Alhambra.  Behold,  for  once, 
a  day-dream  reali/ed  !  yet  I  can  scarcely  credit 
my  senses,  or  believe  that  I  do  indeed  inhabit 
the  palace  of  Boabdil,  and  look  down  from  its 
balconies  upon  chivalric  Granada.  As  I  loiter 
through  the  oriental  chambers,  and  hear  the 
murmuring  of  fountains  and  the  song  of  the 
nightingales,  as  I  inhale  the  odor  of  the  rose 
and  feel  the  influence  of  the  balmy  climate,  I 
am  almost  tempted  to  fancy  myself  in  the  para- 
dise of  Mahomet,  and  that  the  plump  little 
Dolores*  is  one  of  the  bright-eyed  houris,  des- 
tined to  administer  to  the  happiness  of  true 
believers." 

The  author's  selection  of  his  chamber  at  the 
palace  is  curious  as  well  as  characteristic  : 

44  On  taking  up  my  abode  in  the  Alhambra, 
one  end  of  a  suite  of  empty  chambers  of  modern 
architecture,  intended  for  the  residence  of  the 
governor,  was  fitted  up  for  my  reception.  It 

0  A  little  maul -servant  of  the  palace. 


214        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

was  in  front  of  the  palace,  looking  forth  upon 
the  esplanade.  The  farther  end  communicated 
with  a  cluster  of  little  chambers,  partly  Moorish, 
partly  modern,  inhabited  by  Fia  Antonia*  and 
her  family.  ...  I  was  dissatisfied  with  being 
lodged  in  a  modern  and  frontier  apartment  of 
the  palace,  and  longed  to  ensconce  myself  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  building. 

"  As  I  was  rambling  one  day  about  the  Moor- 
ish halls,  I  found,  in  a  remote  gallery,  a  door 
which  I  had  not  before  noticed,  communicating 
apparently  with  an  extensive  apartment  locked 
up  from  the  public.  Here,  then,  was  a  mystery. 
Here  was  the  haunted  wing  of  the  castle.  I 
procured  the  key,  however,  without  difficulty. 
The  door  opened  to  a  range  of  vacant  chambers 
of  European  architecture,  though  built  over  a 
Moorish  arcade  along  the  little  garden  of  Lind- 
araxa.  There  were  two  lofty  rooms,  the  ceilings 
of  which  were  of  deep  panel  work  of  cedar,  richly 
and  skillfully  carved  with  fruits  and  flowers  in- 
termingled with  grotesque  masks  or  faces,  but 
broken  in  many  places.  The  walls  had  evidently 
in  ancient  times  been  hung  with  damask,  but 
were  now  naked,  and  scrawled  over  with  the 

*  The  mistress  or  housekeeper  at  the  palace. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         2 1 5 

insignificant  names  of  aspiring  travelers.  The 
windows,  which  were  dismantled  and  open  to 
wind  and  weather,  looked  into  the  garden  of 
Lindaraxa,  and  the  orange  and  citron  trees  flung 
their  branches  into  the  chambers.  .  .  .  There 
was  something  in  the  very  decay  that  enhanced 
the  interest  of  the  scene,  speaking,  as  it  did,  of 
that  mutability  which  is  the  irrevocable  lot  of 
man  and  all  his  works.  ...  I  determined  at 
once  to  take  up  my  abode  in  this  apartment. 

"  My  determination  excited  great  surprise  in 
the  family,*  who  could  not  imagine  any  rational 
inducement  for  the  choice  of  so  solitary,  remote, 
and  forlorn  an  apartment.  The  good  Fia  An- 
tonia  considered  it  highly  dangerous.  The 
neighborhood,  she  said,  was  infested  by  vagrants ; 
the  caverns  of  the  adjacent  hills  swarmed  with 
gipsies  ;  the  palace  was  ruinous,  and  easy  to  be 
entered  in  many  parts  ;  and  the  rumor  of  a 
stranger  quartered  alone  in  one  of  the  ruined 
apartments,  out  of  the  hearing  of  the  rest  of  the 
inhabitants,  might  tempt  unwelcome  visitors  in 
the  night,  especially  as  foreigners  are  always 
supposed  to  be  well  stocked  with  money.  Do- 
lores represented  the  frightful  loneliness  of  the 

*  The  housekeeper's  family. 


2i6        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

place,  nothing  but  bats  and  owls  flitting  about ; 
then  there  were  a  fox  and  a  wild  cat  that  kept 
about  the  vaults,  and  roamed  about  at  night. 

"  I  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  my  humor  ; 
so,  calling  in  the  assistance  of  a  carpenter,  the 
doors  and  windows  were  soon  placed  in  a  state 
of  tolerable  security. 

"  With  all  these  precautions,  I  must  confess 
the  first  night  I  passed  in  these  quarters  was 
inexpressibly  dreary.  I  was  escorted  by  the 
whole  family  to  my  chamber,  and  their  taking 
leave  of  me  and  retiring  along  the  waste  ante- 
chamber and  echoing  galleries  reminded  me  of 
those  hobgoblin  stories  where  the  hero  is  left  to 
accomplish  the  adventure  of  a  haunted  house.'* 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving,        217 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  year  1835  Mr.  Irv- 
ing commenced  the  plan  of  publishing  a 
series  of  volumes  under  the  general  title  of 
"  Miscellanies,"  comprising  various  manuscripts 
which  he  already  had  on  hand,  and  others  yet 
to  be  prepared.  The  first  of  these  was  his 
"  Tour  on  the  Prairies  ; "  an  account  of  the  expe- 
dition, already  noticed,  to  the  Indian  country. 
This  work  was  published  in  the  following  spring 
in  this  country  and  England.  Edward  Everett, 
noticing  this  book  in  the  North  American  Re- 
view, remarks  that  he  was  hardly  able  to  say  to 
what  class  of  compositions  it  properly  belonged. 
"It  can  scarcely,"  he  says,  "  be  called  a  book  of 
travels,  for  there  is  too  much  painting  of  man- 
ners and  scenery,  and  too  little  statistics  ;  It  is 
not  a  novel,  for  there  is  no  story ;  and  it  is  not 
a  romance,  for  it  is  all  true.  It  is  a  sort  of 
sentimental  journey,  a  romantic  excursion,  in 
which  nearly  all  the  elements  of  several  different 
kinds  of  writing  are  beautifully  and  gayly  blended 


218         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving* 

into  a  production  almost  sui generis"  The  re- 
viewer adds  in  his  conclusion  :  "  The  American 
father  who  can  afford  it,  and  does  not  buy  a 
copy  of  Mr.  Irving's  book,  does  not  deserve  that 
his  sons  should  prefer  his  fireside  to  the  bar- 
room, the  pure  and  chaste  pleasures  of  a  culti- 
vated taste,  to  the  gross  indulgences  of  sense  ; 
he  does  not  deserve  that  his  daughters  should 
prefer  to  pass  their  leisure  hours  in  maidenly 
seclusion  and  the  improvement  of  their  minds, 
rather  than  to  flaunt  on  the  side-walks  by  day, 
and  pursue  by  night  an  eternal  round  of  taste- 
less dissipation." 

Writing  of  the  prairie  Indians  and  their 
horses,  Mr.  Irving  says  :  "  The  habits  of  the 
Arabs  seem  to  have  come  with  the  steed.  The 
introduction  of  the  horse  on  the  boundless  prai- 
ries of  the  Far  West  changed  the  whole  mode  of 
living  of  their  (Indian)  inhabitants.  It  gave 
them  that  facility  of  rapid  motion,  and  of  sudden 
and  distant  change  of  place,  so  dear  to  the  rov- 
ing propensities  of  man.  Instead  of  lurking  in 
the  depths  of  gloomy  forests,  and  patiently 
threading  the  mazes  of  a  tangled  wilderness  on 
foot,  like  his  brethren  of  the  North,  the  Indian 
of  the  West  is  a  rover  of  the  plain  ;  he  leads  a 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         219 

brighter  and  more  sunshiny  life,  almost  always 
on  horseback  on  vast  flowery  prairies  and  under 
cloudless  skies." 

As  they  journey,  one  of  their  attendants,  a 
half-breed  Indian,  Beatte  by  name,  pursues, 
catches,  and  subdues  one  of  the  wild  horses  of 
the  prairie. 

"  As  he  was  returning  to  the  camp  he  came 
upon  a  gang  of  six  horses,  which  immediately 
made  for  the  river.  He  pursued  them  across 
the  stream,  left  his  rifle  on  the  river  bank,  and, 
putting  his  horse  to  full  speed,  soon  came  up 
with  the  fugitives.  He  attempted  to  noose  one 
of  them,  but  the  lariat  hitched  on  one  of  his  ears 
and  he  shook  it  off.  The  horses  dashed  up  a 
hill,  he  followed  hard  at  their  heels,  when,  of  a 
sudden,  he  saw  their  tails  whisking  in  the  air, 
and  they  plunging  down  a  precipice.  It  was 
too  late  to  stop.  He  shut  his  eyes,  held  in  his 
breath,  and  went  over  with  them — neck  or 
nothing.  The  descent  was  between  twenty 
and  thirty  feet,  but  they  all  came  down  safe 
upon  a  sandy  bottom. 

"  He  now  succeeded  in  throwing  his  noose 
round  a  fine  young  horse.  As  he  galloped 
along  side  of  him  the  two  horses  passed  each 


22O        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

side  of  a  sapling,  and  the  end  of  the  lariat 
was  jerked  out  of  his  hand.  He  regained  it, 
but  an  intervening  tree  obliged  him  again  to 
let  it  go.  Having  once  more  caught  it,  and 
coming  to  a  more  open  country,  he  was  enabled 
to  play  the  young  horse  with  the  line  until  he 
gradually  checked  and  subdued  him,  so  as  to 
lead  him  to  the  place  where  he  had  left  his 

*  rifle. 

"  He  had  another  formidable  difficulty  in  get- 

•  ting  him  across  the  river,  where  both  horses  stuck 
for  a  time  in  the  mire,  and  Beatte  was  nearly 
unseated  from  his  saddle  by  the  force  of  the 
current  and  the  struggles  of  his  captive.    After 
much  toil  and  trouble,  however,  he  got  across 
the  stream,  and  brought  his  prize  safe  into  the 
camp.  .  .  . 

"Beatte,  just  as  we  were  about  to  march, 
strapped  a  light  pack  upon  his  back,  by  way  of 
giving  him  the  first  lesson  in  servitude.  The 
native  pride  and  independence  of  the  animal 
took  fire  at  this  indignity.  He  reared,  and 
plunged,  and  kicked,  and  tried  in  every  way  to 
get  rid  of  the  degrading  burden.  The  Indian 
was  too  potent  for  him.  At  every  paroxysm  he 
renewed  the  discipline  of  the  halter,  until  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         221 

poor  animal,  driven  to  despair,  threw  himself 
prostrate  on  the  ground  and  lay  motionless,  as 
if  acknowledging  himself  vanquished.  A  stage 
hero,  representing  the  despair  of  a  captive 
prince,  could  not  have  played  his  part  more 
dramatically.  There  was  absolutely  a  moral 
grandeur  in  it. 

"  The  imperturbable  Ikatte  folded  his  arms, 
and  stood  for  a  time  looking  down  in  silence 
upon  his  captive,  until,  seeing  him  perfectly 
subdued,  he  nodded  his  head  slowly,  screwed 
his  mouth  into  a  sardonic  smile  of  triumph,  and 
with  a  jerk  of  the  halter  ordered  him  to  rise. 
He  obeyed,  and  from  that  time  forward  offered 
no  resistance.  During  that  day  he  bore  his 
pack  patiently,  and  was  led  by  the  halter ;  but 
in  two  days  he  followed  voluntarily  at  large 
among  the  supernumerary  horses  of  the  troop. 

"  I  could  not  but  look  with  compassion  upon 
this  fine  young  animal,  whose  whole  course  of 
existence  had  been  so  suddenly  reversed.  From 
being  a  denizen  of  these  vast  pastures,  ranging 
at  will  from  plain  to  plain  and  mead  to  mead, 
cropping  of  every  herb  and  flower,  and  drink- 
ing of  every  stream,  he  was  suddenly  reduced  to 
perpetual  and  painful  servitude,  to  pass  his  life 


222         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

under  the  harness  and  the  curb,  amid,  perhaps, 
the  din  and  dust  and  drudgery  of  cities.  The 
transition  in  his  lot  was  such  as  sometimes 
take  place  in  human  affairs  and  in  the  fortunes 
of  towering  individuals ;  one  day  a  prince  of 
the  prairies,  the  next  day  a  pack-horse ! " 

Mr.  Irving  and  one  of  his  companions  had 
made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  buffalo-hunt- 
ing but  were  not  entirely  discouraged. 

"  We  determined  not  to  seek  the  camp  until 
we  had  made  one  more  effort.  .  Casting  our 
eyes  about  the  surrounding  waste,  we  descried 
a  herd  of  buffalo  about  two  miles  distant,  scat- 
tered apart,  and  quietly  grazing  near  a  small 
strip  of  trees  and  bushes.  It  required  but  little 
stretch  of  fancy  to  picture  them,  so  many  cattle 
grazing  on  the  edge  of  a  common,  and  that  the 
grove  might  shelter  some  lowly  farm-house. 

"  We  how  formed  our  plan  to  circumvent  the 
herd,  and  by  getting  on  the  other  side  of  them, 
to  hunt  them  in  the  direction  where  we  knew 
our  camp  to  be  situated,  otherwise  the  pursuit 
might  take  us  to  such  a  distance  as  to  render  it 
impossible  for  us  to  find  our  way  back  before 
night-fall.  Taking  a  wide  circuit,  therefore,  we 
moved  slowly  and  cautiously,  pausing  occasion- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         223 

ally  when  we  saw  any  of  the  herd  desist  from 
grazing.     The  wind  fortunately  set  from  them, 
otherwise  they  might  have  scented  us  and  have 
taken  the  alarm.     In  this  way  we  succeeded  in 
getting  round  the  herd  without  disturbing  it. 
It  consisted  of  about  forty  head,  bulls,  cows,  and 
calves.     Separating  to  some  distance  from  each 
other,  we  now  approached  slowly  in  a  parallel 
line,  hoping  by  degrees  to  steal  near  without 
exciting  attention.     They  be*?an,   however,  to 
move  off  quietly,  stopping  at  every  step  to  graze  ; 
when  suddenly  a  bull   that,  unobserved  by  us, 
had  been  taking  his   siesta  under  a  clump  of 
trees  to  our  left,  roused  himself  from  his  lair 
and  hastened  to  join  his  companions.     We  were 
still  at  a  considerable  distance,  but  the  game 
had  taken  the  alarm.     We  quickened  our  pace, 
they  broke  into  a  gallop,  and  now  commenced 
a  full  chase. 

"  As  the  ground  was  level  they  shouldered  along 
with  great  speed,  following  each  otfier  in  a  line, 
two  or  three  bulls  bringing  up  the  rear,  the  last 
of  whom,  from  his  enormous  size  and  venerable 
frontlet,  and  beard  of  sun-burnt  hair,  looked  like 
the  patriarch  of  the  herd,  and  as  if  he  might 
long  have  reigned  the  monarch  of  the  prairie.  \ 


224        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"There  is  a  mixture  of  the  awful  and  the 
coTnic  in  the  look  of  these  huge  animals  as  they 
bear  their  great  bulk  forward,  with  an  up  and 
down  motion  of  unwieldy  head  and  shoulders  ; 
their  tail  cocked  up  like  the  queue  of  Pantaloon 
in  a  pantomime,  the  end  whisking  about  in  a 
fierce  yet  whimsical  style,  and  their  eyes  glaring 
venomously  with  an  expression  of  fright  and  fury. 

"  For  some  time  I  kept  parallel  with  the  line, 
without  being  able  to  force  my  horse  within 
pistol  shot,  so  much  had  he  been  alarmed  by 
the  assault  of  the  buffalo  in  the  preceding  chase. 
At  length  I  succeeded,  but  was  again  balked  by 
my  pistols  missing  fire.  My  companions,  whose 
horses  were  less  fleet  and  more  way-worn,  could 
not  overtake  the  herd  ;  at  length  Mr.  L.,  who  was 
in  the  rear  of  the  line  and  losing  ground,  leveled 
his  double-barreled  gun,  and  fired  a  long  raking 
shot.  It  struck  a  buffalo  just  above  the  loins, 
broke  its  backbone,  and  brought  it  to  the  ground. 
He  stopped",  and  alighted  to  dispatch  his  prey, 
when,  borrowing  his  gun,  which  had  yet  a  charge 
remaining  in  it,  I  put  my  horse  to  his  speed, 
again  overtook  the  herd  which  was  thundering 
along,  pursued  by  the  Count.  With  my  present 
weapon  there  was  no  need  of  urging  my  horse 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         22$ 

to  such  close  quarters  ;  galloping  along  parallel, 
therefore,  I  singled  out  a  buffalo,  and  by  a  for- 
tunate shot  brought  it  down  on  the  spot  The 
ball  had  struck  a  vital  part ;  it  would  not  move 
from  the  place  where  it  fell,  but  lay  there  strug- 
gling in  mortal  agony,  while  the  rest  of  the 
herd  kept  on  their  headlong  career  across  the 
prairie. 

"Dismounting,  I  now  fettered  my  horse  to 
prevent  his  straying,  and  advanced  to  contem. 
plate  my  victim.  I  am  nothing  of  a  sportsman  ; 
I  had  been  tempted  to  this  unwonted  exploit  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  game,  and  the  excitement  of 
an  adventurous  chase.  Now  that  the  excitement 
was  over  I  could  not  but  look  with  commisera- 
tion upon  the  poor  animal  that  lay  struggling 
and  bleeding  at  my  feet.  His  very  size  and 
importance,  which  had  before  inspired  me  with 
eagerness,  now  increased  my  compunction.  It 
seemed  as  if  I  had  inflicted  pain  in  proportion 
to  the  bulk  of  my  victim,  and  as  if  there  were  a 
hundredfold  greater  waste  of  life  than  would 
have  been  in  the  destruction  of  an  animal  of 
an  inferior  size." 

Mr.  Irving    presents    us    a   sketch  of  the 
"  Prairie  dogs,"  and  one  of  their  villages : 

15 


226        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

.   "The  prairie  dog  is  an  animal  of  the  coney 
"kind,  and  about  the  size  of  the  rabbit.     He  is 
of  a  sprightly,  mercurial  nature  ;  quick,  sensi- 
tive, and  somewhat  petulant.     He  is  very  gre- 
<  garious,    living  in   large    communities;,    some- 
times of  several  acres  in  extent,  where  innumer- 
able little  heaps  of  earth  show  the  entrance  to 
the  subterranean  cells  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and 
the  well-beaten  tracks,  like  lanes  and  streets, 
show  their  mobility  and  restlessness.     Accord- 
ing to  the  accounts  given  of  them  they  would 
seem  to  be  continually  full  of  sport,  business, 
and  public  affairs,  whisking  about  hither  and 
thitner,  as  if  on  gossiping  visits  to  each  other's 
houses,  or  congregating  in  the  cool  of  the  even- 
ing, or  after  a  shower,  and  gamboling  together 
in  the  open  air.     Sometimes,  especially  when 
the  moon  shines,  they  pass  half  the  night  in 
revelry,  barking,  or  yelping  with  short,  quick, 
yet  weak  tones,  like  those  of  very  young  pup- 
pies.    While  in  the  height  of  their  playfulness 
and  clamor,  however,  should  there  be  the  least 
alarm  they  all  vanish   into   their  cells  in    an 
instant,    and   the   village    remains    blank   and 
silent.     In  case  they  are  hard  pressed  by  their 
pursuers,  without  any  hope  of  escape,  they  will 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         227 

assume  a  pugnacious  air,  and  a  most  whimsical 
look  of  impotent  wrath  and  defiance. 

"  The  prairie  dogs  are  not  .permitted  to  remain 
sole  and  indisputable  inhabitants  of  their  own 
homes.  Owls  and  rattlesnakes  are  said  to  take 
up  their  abodes  with  them,  but  whether  as  in- 
vited guests  or  unwelcome  intruders  is  a  matter 
of  controversy.  The  owls  are  of  a  peculiar 
kind,  and  would  seem  to  partake  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  hawk,  for  they  are  taller  and  more 
erect  on  their  legs,  more  alert  in  their  looks 
and  rapid  in  their  flight  than  ordinary  owls,  and 
do  not  confine  their  excursions  to  the  night,  but 
sally  forth  in  broad  day. 

"  Some  say  that  they  only  inhabit  cells  which 
the  prairie  dogs  have  deserted,  and  suffered  to 
go  to  ruin,  in  consequence  of  the  death  in  them 
of  some  relative  ;  for  they  would  make  out  this 
little  animal  to  be  endowed  with  keen  sensibili- 
ties, that  will  not  permit  it  to  remain  in  the 
dwelling  when  it  has  witnessed  the  death  of  a 
friend.  Other  fanciful  speculators  represent  the 
owl  as  a  kind  of  housekeeper  to  the  prairie  dog ; 
and,  from  having  a  note  very  similar,  insinuate 
that  it  acts  in  a  manner  as  family  preceptor,  and 
teaches  the  young  litter  to  bark. 


228  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"  As  to  the  rattlesnake,  nothing  satisfactory 
has  been  ascertained  of  the  part  he  plays  in  this 
most  interesting  household ;  though  he  is  con- 
sidered as  little  better  than  a  sycophant  and 
sharper,  that  winds  himself  into  the  concerns 
of  the  honest,  credulous  little  dog,  and  takes 
him  in  most  sadly.  Certain  it  is,  if  he  acts  as 
toad-eater,  he  occasionally  solaces  himself  with 
more  than  the  usual  perquisites  of  his  order,  as 
he  is  now  and  then  detected  with  one  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  family  in  his  maw." 

The  second  volume  of  the  Miscellanies, 
comprising  "  Abbotsford  "  and  "  Newstead  Ab- 
bey," immediately  followed  the  first  volume. 
These  are  briefer  compositions,  and  are  delightful 
sketches,  drawn  from  the  author's  personal 
recollections  of  those  two  literary  shrines. 

These  two  volumes  of  miscellanies  were 
received  with  great  favor  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  the  author  was  much  encouraged 
to  proceed  with  the  series.  The  third  volume 
appeared  in  the  following  autumn  with  the  title 
of  "  Legends  of  the  Conquest  of  Spain." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         229 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

IN  October,  1836,  Mr. Irving  put  to  press  his 
volume,  "Astoria,"  a  work  which  he  had 
been  induced  to  undertake  at  the  solicitation  of 
the  millionaire,  John  Jacob  Astor.*  This  book 
relates  to  Mr.  Astor's  settlement  of  a  colony 
which  he  had  established  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River  ;  and  the  plan  of  the  great 
capitalist  was  to  secure  to  himself  by  this 

0  Mr.  Astor  was  a  native  of  Germany,  born  in  1763,  and 
when  twenty  years  old  emigrated  to  this  country  and  engaged 
in  the  fur  trade,  establishing  himself  in  New  York.  He  dis- 
played great  skill  in  business,  and  prospered  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  was  soon  able  to  export  furs  abroad  in  his  own  ships, 
bringing  back  foreign  produce  for  the  New  York  market.. 
While  engaged  extensively  in  the  fur  trade,  he  also  made 
large  purchases  of  real  estate  in  New  York,  which  advanced 
greatly  on  his  hands.  At  his  death  he  was  worth  twenty 
million  dollars. 

In  his  life-time,  and  at  his  death,  Mr.  Astor  made  many 
liberal  donations  for  benevolent  objects;  but  his  principal 
beneficence  was  the  establishment  of  the  Library  which  bears 
his  name.  This  Library  is  already  one  of  the  largest  in  the 
country,  and  its  accommodations  and  volumes  have  been 
largely  increased  since  his  death  by  the  liberality  of  his  son,  W. 
B.  Astor,  Esq.  The  library  buildings  are  sufficiently  ample  to 
contain  two  hundred  thousand  volumes,  and  will  soon  be  full* 


230         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

volume  the  reputation  of  having  originated  the 
enterprise,  and  founded  the  colony  which  was 
"likely  to  have  such  important  results  in  the 
history  of  commerce  and  colonization."  Irving, 
from  the  press  of  other  literary  engagements, 
was  reluctant  to  undertake  the  work ;  but 
having  enlisted  the  co-operation  of  his  nephew, 
Mr.  Pierre  M.  Irving,  who  was  to  arrange  the 
principal  materials,  to  be  afterward  finished  and 
embellished  by  his  uncle,  the  work  was  duly 
prosecuted  and  executed  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  Mr.  Astor,  as  well  as  to  the  gratification  and 
warm  approval  of  the  public. 

Of  "  Astoria "  the  "North  American  Review" 
remarks,  that  "  the  whole  work  bears  the  im- 
press of  Mr.  Irving's  taste.  A  -great  variety  of 
somewhat  discordant  materials  is  brought  into 
a  consistent  whole,  of  which  the  parts  have  a 
due  reference  to  each  other ;  and  some  sketches 
of  life  and  traits  of  humor  come  fresh  from  the 
pen  of  Geoffrey  Crayon." 

"I  have,"  says  Sidney  Smith,  "read  '  Astoria' 
with  great  pleasure.  It  is  a  book  to  put  in  your 
library  as  an  entertaining,  well-written — vciy 
well-written-account  of  savage  life  on  a  most 
extensive  scale." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         231 

"The  most  finished  narrative,"  says  the 
"  London  Spectator,"  "  that  ever  was  written, 
whether  with  regard  to  plan  or  execution.  The 
arrangement  has  all  the  art  of  fiction,  yet  with- 
out any  sacrifice  of  truth  or  exactness.  The 
composition  we  are  inclined  to  rate  as  the  chef 
d'ccuvrc  of  Washington  Irving." 

The  climate  of*  the  country  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  is  described  as  follows  : 

"  A  remarkable  fact  characteristic  of  the 
country  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  the 
mildness  and  equability  of  the  climate.  That 
great  mountain  barrier  seems  to  divide  the  con- 
tinent into  different  climates,  even  in  the  same 
degrees  of  latitude.  The  rigorous  winters  and 
sultry  summers,  and  all  the  capricious  irregu- 
larities of  temperature  prevalent  on  the  Atlantic 
side  of  the  mountains,  are  but  little  felt  on  their 
western  declivities.  The  countries  between 
them  and  the  Pacific  are  blessed  with  milder 
and  steadier  temperature,  resembling  the  cli- 
mates of  parallel  latitudes  in  Europe.  In  the 
plains  and  valleys  but  little  snow  falls  through- 
out the  winter,  and  usually  melts  while  falling. 
It  rarely  lies  on  the  ground  more  than  two  days 
at  a  time,  except  on  the  summits  of  the  mount* 


232         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ains.  The  winters  are  rainy  rather  than  cold. 
The  rains  for  five  months — from  the  middle  of 
October  to  the  middle  of  March — are  almost 
incessant,  and  often  accompanied  by  tremendous 
thunder  and  lightning.  The  winds  prevalent 
at  this  season  are  from  the  south  and  south-east, 
which  usually  bring  rain.  Those  irom  the  north 
to  the  south-west  are  the  harbingers  of  fair 
weather  and  a  clear  sky.  The  residue  of  the 
year — from  the  middle  of  March  to  the  middle 
of  October — an  interval  of  seven  months,  is 
serene  and  delightful.  There  is  scarcely  any 
rain  throughout  this  time,  yet  the  face  of  the 
country  is  kept  fresh  and  verdant  by  nightly 
dews,  and  occasionally  by  humid  togs  in  the 
mornings.  These  are  not  considered  prejudi- 
cial to  health,  since  both  the  natives  and  the 
whites  sleep  in  the  open  air  with  perfect  im- 
•  punity.  , 

"  While  this  equable  and  bland  temperature 
prevails  throughout  the  lower  country,  the  peaks 
and  ridges  of  the  vast  mountains  by  which  it  is 
dominated  are  covered  with  perpetual  snow. 
This  renders  them  discernible  at  a  great  dis- 
tance, shining  at  times  like  bright  summer  clouds, 
at  other  times  assuming  the  most  aerial  tints, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         233 

and  always  forming  brilliant  and  striking  features 
in  the  vast  landscape.  The  mild  temperature 
prevalent  throughout  the  country  is  attributed 
by  some  to  the  succession  of  winds  from  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  extending  from  latitude  twenty 
degrees  to  at  least  fifty  degrees,  north.  These 
temper  the  heat  of  summer,  so  that  in  the  shade 
no  one  is  incommoded  by  perspiration ;  they 
also  soften  the  rigors  of  winter,  and  produce 
such  a  moderation  in  the  climate  that  the  in- 
habitants can  wear  the  same  dress  throughout 
the  year." 

A  party  traversing  the  wilderness  found 
themselves  reduced  to  such  desperate  circum- 
stances as  are  here  depicted : 

"  In  this  way  they  proceeded  for  seventeen 
miles  over  a  level  plain  of  sand  until,  seeing  a 
few  antelopes  in  the  distance,  they  encamped  on 
the  margin  of  a  small  stream.  All  now  that 
were  capable  of  exertion  turned  out  to  hunt  for 
a  meal.  Their  efforts  were  fruitless,  and  after 
dark  they  returned  to  their  camp  famished  al- 
most to  desperation.  As  they  were  preparing 
for  the  third  time  to  lie  down  to  sleep  without 
a  mouthful  to  eat,  Le  Clerc,  one  of  the  Cana- 
dians, gaunt  and  wild  with  hunger,  approached 


234         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Mr.  Stuart  with  his  gun  in  his  hand.  *  It  was 
all  in  vain/  he  said, '  to  attempt  to  proceed  any 
further  without  food.  They  had  a  barren  plain 
before  them,  three  or  four  days'  journey  in  ex- 
tent, on  which  nothing  was  to  be  procured. 
They  must  all  perish  before  they  could  get  to 
the  end  of  it.  It  was  better,  therefore,  that  one 
should  die  to  save  the  rest.'  He  proposed, 
therefore,  that  they  should  cast  lots,  adding,  as 
an  inducement  for  Mr.  Stuart  to  assent  to  the 
proposition,  that  he,  as  leader  of  the  party, 
should  be  exempted. 

"  Mr.  Stuart  shuddered  at  the  horrible  propo- 
sition, and  endeavored  to  reason  with  the  man, 
but  his  words  were  unavailing.  At  length, 
snatching  up  his  rifle,  he  threatened  to  shoot 
him  on  the  spot  if  he  persisted.  The  famished 
wretch  dropped  on  his  knees,  begged  pardon  in 
the  most  abject  terms,  and  promised  never 
again  to  offend  him  with  such  a  suggestion. 

"  Quiet  being  restored  to  the  forlorn  encamp- 
ment, each  one  sought  repose.  Mr.  Stuart, 
however,  was  so  exhausted  by  the  agitation  of 
the  past  scene  acting  upon  his  emaciated  frame 
that  he  could  scarce  crawl  to  his  miserable 
couch,  where,  notwithstanding  his  fatigues,  he 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          235 

passed  a  sleepless  night,  revolving  upon  their 
dreary  situation,  and  the  desperate  prospect 
before  them. 

"  Before  daylight  the  next  morning  they  were 
up  and  on  their  way.  They  had  nothing  to 
detain  them,  no  breakfast  to  prepare,  and  to 
linger  was  to  perish.  They  proceeded,  how- 
ever, but  slowly,  for  all  were  faint  and  weak. 
Here  and  there  they  passed  the  skulls  and  bones 
of  buffaloes,  which  showed  that  these  animals  must 
have  been  hunted  here  during  the  past  season. 
The  sight  of  these  bones  served  only  to  mock 
their  misery.  After  traveling  about  nine  miles 
along  the  plain  they  ascended  a  range  of  hills, 
and  had  scarcely  gone  two  miles  further  when, 
to  their  great  joy,  they  discovered  an  4  old  run- 
down buffalo  bull/  the  laggard,  probably,  of 
some  herd  that  had  been  hunted  and  harassed 
through  the  mountains.  They  now  all  stretched 
themselves  out  to  encompass  and  make  sure  of 
this  solitary  animal,  for  their  lives  depended 
upon  their  success.  After  considerable  trouble 
and  infinite  anxiety  they  at  length  succeeded 
in  killing  him.  He  was  instantly  flayed  and 
cut  up,  and  so  ravenous  was  their  hunger  that 
they  devoured  some  of  the  flesh  raw.  The  resi- 


236        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

due  they  carried  to  a  brook  near  by,  where  they 
encamped,  lit  a  fire,  and  began  to  cook. 

11  Mr.  Stuart  was  fearful  that  in  their  fam- 
ished state  they  would  eat  to  excess  and  injure 
themselves.  He  caused  a  soup  to  be  made  of 
some  of  the  meat,  and  that  each  should  take  a 
quantity  of  it  as  a  prelude  to  his  supper.  This 
may  have  had  a  beneficial  effect,  for  though 
they  sat  up  the  greater  part  of  the  night  cook- 
ing and  cramming,  no  one  suffered  any  incon- 
venience. 

"  The  next  morning  the  feasting  was  re- 
sumed, and  about  midday,  feeling  somewhat 
recruited  and  refreshed,  they  set  out  on  their 
journey  with  renovated  spirits,  shaping  their 
course  toward  a  mountain,  the  summit  of  which 
they  saw  towering  in  the  east,  and  near  to  which 
they  expected  to  find  the  head-waters  of  the 
Missouri." 

The  next  work  brought  out  by  Mr.  Irving 
was  his  "Adventures  of  Captain  Bonnevillc, 
U.  S.  A.,  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  the  Far 
West."  This  work  was  digested  from  the  jour- 
nal of  Captain  Bonneville,  which  Irving  pur- 
chased of  him,  and  which,  with  illustrations 
from  various  other  sources,  he  shaped  into  this 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         237 

deeply  interesting  book.  "  It  is,"  says  Chan- 
cellor Kent,  "full  of  exciting  incident,  and  by 
reason  of  Mr.  Irving's  fine  taste  and  attractive 
style  possesses  the  power  and  the  charms  of 
romance." 

We  have  a  description  of  the  trapper  of  the 
Far  West  as  he  flourished  forty  years  ago  : 

"  Accustomed  to  live  in  tents  or  to  bivouac 
in  the  open  air,  he  despises  the  comforts  and 
is  impatient  of  the  confinement  of  the  log- 
house.  If  his  meal  is  not  ready  in  season  he 
takes  his  rifle,  hies  to  the  forest  or  prairie, 
shoots  his  own  'game,  lights  his  fire,  and  cooks 
his  repast.  With  his  horse  and  his  rifle  he  is 
independent  of  the  world,  and  spurns  at  all 
restraints. 

"  There  is,  perhaps,  no  class  of  men  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  who  lead  a  life  of  more  con- 
tinued exertion,  peril,  and  excitement,  and  who 
are  more  enamored  of  their  occupation  than 
the  free  trappers  of  the  West.  No  toil,  no 
danger,  no  privation  can  turn  the  trapper  from 
his  pursuit.  His  passionate  excitement  at 
times  resembles  a  mania.  In  vain  may  the 
most  vigilant  and  cruel  savages  beset  his  path, 
in  vain  may  rocks  and  precipices  and  wintry 


238         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

torrents  oppose  his  progress,  let  but  a  single 
track  of  a  beaver  meet  his  eye  and  he  forgets 
all  danger  and  defies  all  difficulties.  At  times 
he  may  be  seen,  with  his  traps  on  his  shoulder, 
buffeting  his  way  across  rapid  streams,  amid 
floating  blocks  of  ice  ;  at  other  times  he  is  to 
be  found  with  his  traps  swung  on  his  back, 
clambering  the  most  rugged  mountains,  scaling 
or  descending  the  most  frightful  precipices, 
searching,  by  routes  inaccessible  to  the  horse, 
and  never  before  trodden  by  white  man,  for 
springs  and  lakes  unknown  to  his  comrades, 
and  where  he  may  meet  with  his  favorite  game. 
Such  is  the  mountaineer,  the  hardy  trapper  of 
the  West ;  and  such,  as  we  have  slightly  sketched 
it,  is  the  wild  Robin  Hood  kind  of  life,  with  all 
its  strange  and  motley  populace,  now  existing 
in  full  vigor  among  the  Rocky  Mountains.  .  .  . 

"  The  American  trapper  stands  by  himself, 
and  is  peerless  for  the  service  of  the  wilder- 
ness. Drop  him  in  the  midst  of  a  prairie  or  in 
the  heart  of  the  mountains  and  he  is  never  at 
a  loss.  He  notices  every  landmark,  can  retrace 
his  route  through  the  most  monotonous  plains 
or  the  most  perplexed  labyrinths  of  the  mount- 
ains ;  no  danger  nor  difficulty  can  appal  him, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         239 

and  he  scorns  to  complain  under  any  priva- 
tion. ...  In  fact,  no  one  can  cope  with  him  as 
a  stark  tramper  of  the  wilderness." 

The   trapper's   Indian   wife  is  also  pictured 

for  us : 

«E 

"  The  free  trapper,  while  a  bachelor,  has  no 
greater  pet  than  his  horse  ;  but  the  moment  he 
takes  a  wife,  he  discovers  that  he  has  a  still 
more  fanciful  and  capricious  animal  on  which  to 
lavish  his  expenses.  No  sooner  does  an  Indian 
belle  experience  this  promotion  than  all  her 
notions  at  once  rise  and  expand  to  the  dignity 
of  her  situation  ;  and  the  purse  of  her  lover,  and 
his  credit  into  the  bargain,  are  tasked  to  the 
utmost  to  fit  her  out  in  becoming  style.  The 
wife  of  a  free  trapper  to  be  equipped  and  arrayed 
like  any  ordinary  and  undistinguished  squaw! 
Perish  the  groveling  thought !  In  the  first  place, 
she  must  have  a  horse  for  her  own  riding ;  but 
no  jaded,  sorry,  earth-spirited  hack,  such  as  is 
sometimes  assigned  by  an  Indian  husband  for 
the  transportation  of  his  squaw  and  her  papooses. 
The  wife  of  a  free  trapper  must  have  the  most 
beautiful  animal  she  can  lay  her  eyes  on.  And 
then  as  to  his  decoration :  head-stall,  breast- 
bands,  saddle,  crupper,  are  lavishly  embroidered 


240         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

with  beads,  and  hung  "with  thimbles,  hawks' 
bells,  and  bunches  of  ribbons.  From  each  sids 
of  the  saddle  hangs  an  esquimoot,  a  sort  of 
pocket,  in  which  she  bestows  the  residue  of  her 
trinkets  and  knickknacks  which  cannot  be 
crowded  on  the  decoration  of  her  horse  or  her- 
self. Over  this  she  folds,  with  great  care,  a 
drapery  of  scarlet  and  bright-colored  calicoes, 
and  now  considers  the  caparison  of  her  steed 
complete. 

"  As  to  her  own  person  she  is  even  still  more 
extravagant.  Her  hair,  esteemed  beautiful  in 
proportion  to  its  length,  is  carefully  plaited,  and 
made  to  fall  with  seeming  negligence  over  either 
breast.  Her  riding-hat  is  stuck  full  of  party- 
colored  feathers  ;  her  robe,  fashioned  somewhat 
after  that  of  the  whites,  is  of  red,  green,  and 
sometimes  of  gray  cloth,  but  always  of  the  finest 
texture  that  can  be  procured.  Her  leggins  and 
moccasins  are  of  the  most  beautiful  and  expen- 
sive workmanship,  and  fitted  neatly  to  the  foot  and 
ankle,  which,  with  the  Indian  women,  are  general- 
ly well-formed  and  delicate.  Then  as  to  jewelry, 
in  the  way  of  finger-rings,  ear-rings,  necklaces, 
and  other  female  glories,  nothing  within  reach 
of  the  trapper's  means  is  omitted  that  can  tend 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        241 

to  impress  the  beholder  with  an  idea  of  the 
lady's  high  estate.  To  finish  the  whole,  she 
selects  from  among  her  blankets  one  of  glowing 
colors,  and,  throwing  it  over  her  shoulders  with 
native  grace,  vaults  into  the  saddle  of  her  gay, 
prancing  steed,  and  is  ready  to  follow  her 
mountaineer  'to  the  last  gasp  with  love  and 
loyalty/  " 

We  have  a  curious  use  of  the  lasso  in  the 
hands  of  a  Californian  horseman : 

"  The  lasso  is  also  of  great  use  in  furnishing 
the  public  with  a  favorite,  though  barbarous 
sport :  the  combat  between  a  bear  and  a  wild 
bull.  For  this  purpose  three  or  four  horsemen 
sally  forth  to  some  wood  frequented  by  bears, 
and,  depositing  the  carcass  of  a  bullock,  hide 
themselves  in  the  vicinity.  The  bears  are  soon 
attracted  by  the  bait.  As  soon  as  one  fit  for 
their  purpose  makes  his  appearance  they  run 
out  and  dexterously  noose  him  by  either  leg. 
After  dragging  him  at  full  speed  until  he  is  fa- 
tigued they  secure  him  more  effectually,  and, 
tying  him  on  the  carcass  of  the  bullock,  draw 
him  in  triumph  to  the  scene  of  action.  By  this 
time  he  is  exasperated  to  such  frenzy  that  they 

are  sometimes  obliged  to  throw  cold  water  on 
\     10 


242         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

him  to  moderate  his  fury  ;  and  dangerous  would 
it  be  for  horse  and  rider  were  he,  while  in  this 
paroxysm,  to  break  his  bonds. 

"  A  wild  bull  of  the  fiercest  kind,  which  has 
been  caught  and  exasperated  in  the  same  man- 
ner, is  now  produced,  and  both  animals  are 
turned  loose  in  the  arena  of  a  small  amphithea- 
ter. The  mortal  fight  begins  instantly,  and 
always  at  first  to  the  disadvantage  of  Bruin, 
fatigued  as  he  is  by  his  previous  rough  riding. 
Roused  at  length  by  the  repeated  goring  of  the 
bull,  he  seizes  his  muzzle  with  his  sharp  claws, 
and,  clinging  to  this  most  sensitive  part,  causes 
him  to  bellow  with  rage  and  agony.  In  his 
heat  and  fury  the  bull  lolls  out  his  tongue ;  this 
is  easily  clutched  by  the  bear ;  with  a  desperate 
effort  he  overturns  his  huge  antagonist,  and  then 
dispatches  him  without  difficulty." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        243 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

IT  was  in  the  midst  of  this  season  of  busy 
authorship  and  publishing  that  Mr.  Irving 
purchased  his  famous  seat  of  "  Sunnyside." 
The  place  which  he  selected  was  a  beautiful  spot 
on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson  near  Tarrytown, 
and  comprised  ten  acres  of  ground,  with  a  small 
Dutch  cottage  upon  it  built  of  stone.  He  thuu 
describes  the  locality  and  his  plan  :  "  It  is  a 
beautiful  spot,  capable  of  being  made  a  little 
paradise.  There  is  a  small  stone  Dutch  cottage 
on  it,  built  about  a  century  since,  and  inhabited 
by  one  of  the  Van  Tassels.  I  have  had  an 
architect  up  there,  and  shall  build  upon  the  old 
mansion  this  summer.  My  idea  is  to  make  a 
little  nookcry  somewhat  in  the  Dutch  style, 
quaint,  but  unpretending.  It  will  be  of  stone. 
The  cost  will  not  be  much.  I  do  not  intend  to 
set  up  any  establishment  there,  but  to  put  some 
simple  furniture  in  it  and  keep  it  as  a  nest,  to 
which  I  can  resort  when  in  the  mood."  Soon 
afterward  he  writes  again :  "  The  workmen 


244        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

are  busy  upon  my  cottage,  which  I  think  will  be 
a  snug  little  Dutch  nookery  when  finished.  It 
will  be  of  stone,  so  as  to  be  cool  in  summer  and 
warm  in  winter.  The  expense  will  be  but 
moderate,  as  I  have  it  built  in  the  simplest 
manner,  depending  upon  its  quaintness  rather 
than  its  costliness."  Subsequently,  on  visiting 
the  spot  and  inspecting  the  erection  of  the  cot- 
tage, he  tells  his  brother  that  he  intends  to  write 
a  legend  or  two  about  it  and  its  vicinity  by  way 
of  making  it  pay  for  itself. 

Another  letter  to  his  brother  Peter,  who  had 
now  been  abroad  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
and  who  was  contemplating  a  return  home,  pre- 
sents at  once  a  charming  picture  of  the  new 
cottage  home  and  of  the  warm  fraternal  affec- 
tion  glowing  in   the  bosom   of  its   proprietor. 
"My  cottage,"  he  writes,  "is  not  yet  finished, 
but  I  shall  drive  at  it  as  soon  as  the  opening  of 
spring  will  permit,  and  I  trust  by  the  time  of 
your  arrival  to  have  a  delightful  little  nest  for 
you  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.     It  will  be 
fitted  to  defy  both  hot  weather  and  cold.     There 
is  a  lovely  prospect  from  its  windows,  and  a 
sweet  green  bank  in   front,  shaded  by  locust 
trees,  up  which  the  summer  breeze  creeps  de- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         245 

lightfully.  It  is  one  of  the  most  delicious  banks 
in  the  world  for  reading,  and  dozing,  and  dream- 
ing during  the  heats  of  summer ;  and  there  are 
no  mosquitoes  in  the  neighborhood.  Here  you 
shall  have  a  room  to  yourself  that  shall  be  a 
sanctum  sanctorum*  You  may  have  your  meals 
in  it  if  you  please,  and  be  as  much  alone  as  you 
desire.  You  shall  also  have  a  room  prepared 
for  you  in  town,  where  you  will  be  equally 
master  of  your  time  and  yourself,  and  free  from 
all  intrusion  ;  while  at  both  places  you  will  have 
those  at  hand  who  love  and  honor  you,  and  who 
will  be  ready  to  do  any  thing  that  may  con- 
tribute to  your  comfort." 

Thus  how  pure  and  beautiful  is  true  affection ; 
and  that,  too,  whether  fraternal,  filial,  or  parental! 
And  how  is  it  intensified  and  elevated  when  its 
objects  are  frail  and  feeble,  as  was  this  absent 
brother,  and  when  dark  fears  come  in  that  they 
may  not  be  long  with  us !  What  would  our  love 
not  prompt  us  to  do  for  such  dear  ones  !  And 
how  eager  we  arc  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  their 
behalf!  And  then  if  the  grave  must  close  over 
them,  how  unutterable  is  the  love  that  mingles 
itself  with  our  great  sorrow,  impelling  us  almost 
to  the  wish  that  we  might  lie  down  with  the 


246         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

loved  and  lost,  and  sleep  the  long  sleep  with 
them  !  And  yet  Christianity  reproves  all  this, 
and  whispers  to  bereaved  mourners  touching 
their  departed  treasures,  "  Not  lost,  but  gone 
before!" 

The  long-absent  brother  whom  Irving,  as  above, 
addressed  so  pleasantly  and  affectionately,  and 
who  on  his  return  home  was  to  receive  so  wel- 
come a  reception,  reached  New  York  in  the  fol- 
lowing summer,  and  the  promised  home  at 
"Sunnyside"  was  ready  for  him  in  the  early 
autumn. 

The  closing  months  of  this  same  year  of  1836 
found  Washington,  at  fifty-three  years  of  age, 
pleasantly  and  happily  domiciled  in  his  new  and 
beautiful  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  sunny  scene  to  contemplate. 
The  author's  literary  fame  is  wide-spread,  ac- 
knowledged, and  sure.  Personally  he  is  greatly 
and  universally  respected  and  beloved.  His 
health  is  perfect,  and  his  spirits  buoyant  and 
sprightly  as  in  the  days  of  his  youth.  His  pe- 
cuniary circumstances  are  entirely  comfortable 
and  increasingly  prosperous.  His  pen  has  been, 
for  the  most  part,  greatly  industrious,  and  was 
never  more  so  than  now.  His  audience  has 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        247 

grown  to  millions,  and  he  has  only  to  write,  and  a 
hundred  publishers  are  ready  and  earnest  to  print, 
and  the  world  is  eager  to  read.  The  very  high- 
est and  sclectest  society  welcome  him  to  its 
brilliant  circles.  Brothers  and  sisters  are  proud 
of  him,  and  an  interesting  circle  of  nephews  and 
nieces  look  up  to  him  with  admiration,  love,  and 
veneration.  The  "  Roost"  is  the  significant 
epithet  by  which  he  has  labeled  his  new  and 
pleasant  home.  His  beloved  brother  is  with 
him,  cheerful  and  happy  after  his  long  exile  and 
repeated  misfortunes.  Two  trusty  and  compe- 
tent servants,  a  man  and  woman,  attend  to  all 
their  domestic  wants  ;  and  thus  there  opens  to 
us  at  this  "  Sunny  side"  home  about  as  attract- 
ive a  picture  of  bachelor  life  as  can,  be  well  con- 
ceived. 

One  evening  the  proprietor  returns  to  the 
"  Roost"  from  the  great  city,  and  he  sits  down 
and  pens  a  letter  to  an  absent  niece,  and  tells 
her,  or  rather  writes  that  he  cannot  tell  her,  of 
his  happiness  in  getting  back  again  to  his  "  own 
dear  bright  little  home,  and  leave  behind  him 
the  hurry  and  worry  and  flurry  of  the  city."  He 
found  all  things  going  on  well,  his  brother  pass- 
ing his  time  comfortably  with  better  health  and 


248        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

spirits,  and  still  improving,  enjoying  the  cosy 
comforts  of  the  cottage,  regular  in  his  meals, 
cheerful,  social,  and  busy.  He  adds  that  the 
geese  and  ducks  are  at  peace  ;  that  a  fancy  pig 
has  arrived  at  the  cottage,  which,  being  of  the 
fair  sex,  and  of"  peculiar  beaitty,"  he  calls  Fanny; 
that  "  Imp,"  that  is,  the  cat,  has  taken  to  him 
lovingly,  and  that  he  expects  to  have  great  com- 
fort in  that  cat  "  if  it  should  be  spared,"  etc.  A 
few  days  later  he  writes  to  Ebenezer  that  "  all 
goes  on  well  at  the  Roost.  Brother  Peter  is 
getting  quite  in  good  feather  again,  and  begins 
to  crow !  You  must  contrive  to  come  up  soon 
if  it  is  only  to  see  my  new  pig,  which  is  a 
darling." 

So  the  "  Roost "  and  its  keeper  have  the  seeming 
of  perfect  correspondence  and  harmony.  "  The 
place  for  the  man,  and  the  man  for  the  place," 
was  never  more  happily  exemplified.  Every 
thing  was  complete,  tasteful,  home-like,  com- 
fortable, and  comely.  The  decorous  and  excel- 
lent arrangements  had  been  created  by  the 
author's  own  genius  and  under  his  constant 
supervision,  and,  being  now  completely  prepared 
and  finished,  he  was  as  completely  ready  and 
qualified  to  enjoy  every  thing  appertaining  to  his 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.          249 

fine  establishment  as  is  possible  to  imagine ; 
and  the  entire  picture  is,  in  a  very  high  degree, 
pleasant  and  beautiful  Would  that  so  attractive 
a  scene  might  continue  through  many,  many 
years  1  But  shadows  must  soon  pass  over  even 
"  Sunnyside  ;"  yet  we  will  not  anticipate. 


250        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

IN  1838  Mr.  Irving  received  the  Tammany 
nomination  for  Mayor  of  New  York  City, 
which  he  very  promptly  declined.  Immediately 
afterward  he  was  invited  by  President  Van 
Buren  to  a  seat  in  his  cabinet  as  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  which  he  also  declined.  In  his  reply 
to  this  flattering  invitation  he  said  that  it  was 
not  so  much  the  duties  of  the  post  that  he  feared, 
as  the  concerns  of  the  Navy  Department  would 
be  peculiarly  interesting  to  him  ;  "  but  I  shrink," 
he  adds,  "  from  the  harsh  cares  and  turmoils  of 
public  and  political  life  at  Washington,  and  feel 
that  I  am  too  sensitive  to  endure  the  bitter 
personal  hostility  and  the  slanders  and  mis- 
representations of  the  press  which  beset  high 
station  in  this  country.  This  argues,  I  confess, 
a  weakness  of  spirit,  and  a  want  of  true  philoso- 
phy ;  but  I  speak  of  myself  as  I  am,  not  as  I 
ought  to  be.  ...  I  really  believe  it  would  take 
but  a  short  career  of  public  life  at  Washington 
to  render  me  mentally  and  physically  a  perfect 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         251 

wreck,  and  to  hurry  me  prematurely  into  old 
age." 

Amid  the  flattering  honors  thus  proffered 
to  Mr.  Irving  scenes  of  mourning  and  affliction 
were  intermingled.  In  March  of  this  year  died 
his  brother  John,  four  years  his  senior,  and  who 
had  for  a  score  of  years  been  first  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  city  and  county 
of  New  York,  and  who  was  eminent  for  his 
moral  and  social  qualities. 

In  the  following  June  came  a  much  deeper 
affliction  in  the  death  of  Peter.  This  was 
Irving's  most  cherished  and  dearest  brother. 
They  had  both  remained  unmarried,  had  been 
much  together  in  their  long  residence  abroad, 
had  encountered  common  misfortunes,  were 
similar  in  many  of  their  tastes,  and  were  accus- 
tomed to  confer  together  upon  literary  and  other 
plans  and  enterprises.  Indeed,  history  presents 
few  instances  of  a  purer,  more  elevated,  unselfish 
and  refined  fraternal  relationship  than  what  long 
existed  between  these  two  brothers.  All  this 
is,  specially  manifest  in  Washington,  who  seemed 
to  identify  his  own  interests  with  those  of  his 
brother,  with  whom  he  was  ever  ready  to  share 
his  last  cent  if  it  were  necessary  for  the  comfort 


252        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

of  one  he  loved  so  much.  When  Peter,  after  so 
long  an  absence,  was,  in  his  feeble  health,  con- 
templating a  return  from  Europe,  Washington 
seemed  to  count  it  a  mere  pastime  to  cross  the 
ocean  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  his  invalid 
brother  homeward.  And  there  are  few  moral 
pictures  more  beautiful  than  that  of  Irving  ar- 
ranging and  furnishing,  as  we  have  before  seen, 
in  the  new  cottage  of  Sunnyside,  the  room  that 
was  to  be  the  special  resting-place  and  home  of 
his  cherished  brother.  And  it  is  mournful  to 
observe  how  few  were  the  brief  months  which 
the  invalid  would  be  permitted  to  linger  within 
that  peaceful  paradise.  Yet  such  is  this  world, 
and  here  we  have  no  continuing  city.  Happy 
they  who  seek  one  to  come ! 

A  letter  of  Irving  to  one  of  his  sisters,  penned 
three  months  after  his  brother's  decease,  par- 
tially reveals  the  depths  of  his  affliction  and  the 
greatness  of  his  bereavement.  "  Every  day/'  he 
writes,  "  every  hour,  I  feel  how  completely  Peter 
and  myself  were  intertwined'  together  in  the 
whole  course  of  our  existence.  Indeed,  the  very 
circumstance  of  our  both  having  never  been 
married  bound  us  more  closely  together.  The 
rest  of  the  family  were  married  and  had  families 


Memoir  of  Washington  Innng.         253 

of  their  own  to  engross  or  divide  their  sympa- 
thies, and  to  weaken  the  fraternal  tie ;   but  we 
stood  in   the  original,   unimpaired   relation  to 
each  other,  and  in  proportion  as  others  were 
weaned  away  by  circumstances  we  grew  more 
and  more  together.     I  was  not  conscious  how 
much  this  was  the  case  while  he  was  living,  but 
now  that  he  is  gone  I  feel  how  all-important  he 
was  to  me.     A  dreary  feeling  of  loneliness 
comes  on  me  at  $imes  that  I  reason  against  in 
vain ;    for,  though  surrounded  by  affectionate 
relatives,  I  feel  that  none  can  be  what  he  was 
to  me ;    none  can  take  so  thorough  an  interest 
in  my  concerns ;  to  none  can  I  so  confidingly  lay 
open  my  every  thought  and  feeling,  and  expose 
my  every  fault  and  foible,  certain  of  such  per- 
fect toleration  and  indulgence.     Since  our  dear 
mother's  death  I  have  had  no  one  who  could  so 
patiently  and  tenderly  bear  with  all  my  weak- 
nesses and  infirmities,  and  throw  over  every 
error  the  mantle  of  affection.     I  have  been  try- 
ing, of  late,  to  resume  my  pen,  and,  by  engaging 
my  mind  in  some  intellectual  task,  to  keep  it 
from  brooding  over  these  melancholy  themes, 
but  I  find  it  almost  impossible.     My  literary 
pursuits  have  been  so  often  carried  on  by  his 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.    ' 

side  and  under  his  eye,  I  have  been  so  accus- 
tomed to  talk  over  every  plan  with  him,  and,  as 
it  were,  to  think  aloud  when  in  his  presence, 
that  I  cannot  open  a  book,  or  take  up  a  paper, 
or  recall  a  past  vein  of  thought,  without  having 
him  instantly  before  me,  and  finding  myself 
completely  overcome." 

It  was  at  this  time,  and  partly  to  soothe  his 
sorrow  for  his  lost  brother,  that  Mr.  Irving  com- 
menced a  literary  work  which  he  counted  upon 
as  one  of  his  most  important  efforts,  and  from 
which  he  anticipated  an  ample  pecuniary  com- 
pensation.    The  title  of  this  new  work,  was  to 
be  "The  Conquest  of  Mexico."    On  this  under- 
taking  he   had    wrought   diligently   for   some 
months,  when  he  visited  New  York  for  the  pur- 
pose of  consulting  some  works  relating  to  his 
theme   in   the    "City   Library."     While  thus 
'engaged  he  was   accosted  by   Mr.    Cogswell, 
afterward  connected  with  the  Astor  Library, 
who  inquired  of  Irving  concerning  the  subject 
upon  which   he   was  now  employing  himself. 
As  the  result  of  this  interview  he  learned  from 
Mr.  Cogswell  that  Prescott,  the  historian,  was 
engaged  upon  the  same  theme  with  himself. 
He  was  of  course  greatly  surprised,  and  doubt- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         255 

less  much  disappointed  also,  as  it  was  a  subject 
in  which  he  had  long  been  deeply  interested, 
and  on  which  he  had  already  expended  much 
labor.  He,  however,  promptly  requested  Mr. 
Cogswell  to  notify  Mr.  Prescott  that  he  should 
abandon  the  subject  to  him,  and  that  he  was 
happy  of  the  opportunity  of  testifying  his  great 
esteem  for  the  talents  of  the  historian.  After 
reading  over  what  he  had  written,  in  a  fit  of 
vexation  for  having  lost  so  magnificent  a  theme 
he  destroyed  the  manuscript. 


256        Mctnoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

IN  the  spring  of  1839  Mr.  Irving  entered  into 
an  engagement  with  the  "  Knickerbocker 
Magazine,"  by  which  he  was  to  furnish  monthly 
contributions  for  a  compensation  of  two  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year.  This  arrangement  con- 
tinued during  two  years ;  and  the  articles  were 
afterward  collected  into  a  volume  which  he  enti- 
tled "  Wolfert's  Roost/'  and  which  realized  an 
extraordinary  sale. 

The  book  comprises  stories,  sketches,  legends, 
etc.,  the  leading  article  having  the  same  title  as 
the  book  itself,  and  is  a  sort  of  history  of  his 
own  Sunnyside  comprised  in  three  "  Chron- 
icles." The  work,  as  a  whole,  is  in  the  author's 
accustomed  style,  and,  while  it  had  so  remark- 
able a  sale,  enjoyed  an  equally  remarkable 
recommendation  to  the  public.  For  so  abun- 
dant were  the  flattering  notices  of  this  little 
work  that  the  publishers  collected  and  published 
them  by  themselves  in  a  pamphlet  of  twenty- 
four  pages.  Besides  these  notices,  the  "  West- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         257 

minster  Review "  remarks :  "  We  envy  those 
who  will  now  read  these  tales  and  sketches  of 
character  for  the  first  time.  Washington  Irv- 
ing is  here,  as  he  always  is,  equal  to  himself. 
He  has  the  finish  of  our  best  writers  ;  he  has 
the  equality  and  gentle  humor  of  Addison  and 
Goldsmith." 

The  "  London  New  Monthly  Magazine," 
noticing  "  Wolfert's  Roost,"  pleasantly  remarks : 
"  The  warm-heart  and  the  fine  brain  went 
into  partnership,  and  wrote  in  good-fellowship 
together  in  the  days  of  the  '  Sketch-Book '  and 
*  Salmagundi ;'  and  they  found  it  answer,  and 
continue  each  the  other's  true  yoke-fellow  to 
this  hour.  .  .  .  '  Geoffrey  Crayon,  Gent/  is  re- 
vived here." 

Chronicle  I  of  "Wolfert's  Roost"  thus  com- 
menceth : 

4t  About  five  and  twenty  miles  from  the  ancient 
anc  renowned  city  of  Manhattan,  formerly  called 
New  Amsterdam,  and  vulgarly  called  New  York, 
on  the  eastern  bank  of  that  expansion  of  the 
Hudson  known  among  Dutch  mariners  of  yore 
as  the  Tappan  Zee,  being  in  fact  the  great  Medi- 
terranean Sea  of  the  New  Netherlands,  stands 

a  little  old-fashioned  stone  mansion,  all  made  up 
17 


2$ 8         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

of  gable-ends,  and  as  full  of  angles  and  corners 
-as  an  old  cocked  hat.  It  is  said,  in  fact,  to  have 
been  modeled  after  the  cocked  hat  of  Peter  the 
Headstrong,  as  the  Escurial  was  modeled  after  the 
gridiron  of  the  blessed  St.  Lawrence.  Though 
but  of  small  dimensions,  yet,  like  many  small 
people,  it  is  of  mighty  spirit,  and  values 
itself  greatly  on  its  antiquity,  being  one  of  the 
oldest  edifices  for  its  size  in  the  whole  country. 
It  claims  to  be  an  ancient  seat  of  empire,  I  may 
rather  say  an  empire  of  itself,  and,  like  all 
empires  great  and  small,  has  had  its  grand  his- 
torical epochs.  In  speaking  of  this  doughty 
and  valorous  little  pile  I  shall  call  it  by  its 
usual  appellation  of  '  The  Roost/  though  that 
is  a  name  given  to  it  in  modern  days,  since  it 
became  the  abode  of  the  white  man." 

Wolfert  Acker  was  one  of  the  ancient  deni- 
zens of  "  The  Roost."  He  is  represented  as  a 
worthy  but  ill-starred  personage,  whose  aim 
through  life  had  been  to  live  in  peace  and  quiet, 
and  who  yet  had  managed  to  keep  in  a.perpetual 
stew,  and  was  accustomed  to  share  in  every 
broil  and  ribwasting  in  all  the  country  round. 
At  length  he  retired  in  high  dudgeon  to  seek 
peace  and  quiet  at  this  fastness  of  the  wilderness 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         259 

called  '  The  Roost/  but  he  was  still  doomed  to 
disappointment 

"  Wolfcrt's  luck  followed  him  into  retirement, 
He  had  shut  himself  up  from  the  world,  but  he 
had  brought  with  him  a  wife,  and  it  soon  passed 
into  a  proverb  throughout  the  neighborhood  that 
the  cock  of  '  The  Roost '  was  the  most  hen- 
pecked bird  in  the  country.  His  house,  too, 
was  reputed  to  be  harassed  by  Yankee  witch- 
craft. When  the  weather  was  quiet  every-where 
else,  the  wind,  it  was  said,  would  howl  and 
whistle  about  the  gables  ;  witches  and  warlocks 
would  whirl  about  upon  the  weather-cocks  and 
scream  down  the  chimneys  ;  nay,  it  was  even 
hinted  that  Wolfert's  wife  was  in  league  with 
the  enemy,  and  used  to  ride  on  a  broomstick  to 
a  witch's  Sabbath  in  Sleepy  Hollow.  This, 
however,  was  all  mere  scandal,  founded,  per- 
haps, on  her  occasionally  flourishing  a  broom- 
stick in  the  course  of  a  curtain  lecture,  or  rais- 
ing a  storm  within  doors,  as  termagant  wives 
are  apt  to  do,  and  against  which  sorcery  horse- 
shoes are  of  no  avail. 

"Wolfert  Acker  died  and  was  buried,  but 
found  no  quiet  even  in  the  grave ;  for,  if  popular 
gossip  be  true,  his  ghost  has  occasionally  been 


2(5o        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

seen  walking  by  moonlight  among  the  old  gray 
moss-grown  trees  of  his  apple  orchard." 

One  of  the  sketches  presents  us,  in  language 
equally  admirable  and  truthful,  the  English  and 
French  character  antithetically  delineated : 

"  No  greater  contrast  is  exhibited  than  that 
of  the  French  and  English.  The  peace  has 
deluged  this  gay  city  (Paris)  with  English  visit- 
ors of  all  ranks  and  conditions.  They  throng 
every  place  of  curiosity  and  amusement,  fill  the 
public  gardens,  the  galleries,  the  cafes,  saloons, 
theaters ;  always  herding  together,  never  asso- 
ciating with  the  French.  The  two  nations  are 
like  two  threads  of  different  colors,  tangled  to- 
gether, but  never  blended. 

"  In  fact,  they  present  a  continual  antithe- 
sis, and  seem  to  value  themselves  upon  being 
unlike  each  other;  yet  each  have  their  peculiar 
merits,  which  should  entitle  them  to  each  other's 
esteem.  The  French  intellect  is  quick  and 
active.  It  flashes  its  way  into  a  subject  with 
the  rapidity  of  lightning,  seizes  upon  remote 
conclusions  with  a  sudden  bound,  and  its  de- 
ductions are  almost  intuitive.  The  English  in- 
tellect is  less  rapid,  but  more  persevering  ;  less 
sudden,  but  more  sure  in  its  deductions.  The 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         261 

quickness  and  mobility  of  the  French  enable 
them  to  .find  enpyment  in  the  multiplicity  of 
sensations.  They  speak  and  act  more  from 
immediate  impressions  than  from  reflection  and 
meditation.  They  are,  therefore,  more  social 
and  communicative  ;  more  fond  of  society,  and 
of  places  of  public  resort  and  amusement.  An 
Englishman  is  more  reflective  in  his  habits. 
He  lives  in  the  world  of  his  own  thoughts, 
and  seems  more  self-existent  and  self-depend- 
ent. He  loves  the  quiet  of  his  own  apartment ; 
even  when  abroad,  he  makes  in  a  manner  a 
little  solitude  around  him  by  his  silence  and 
reserve ;  he  moves  about  shy  and  solitary,  and, 
'  as  it  were,  buttoned  up,  body  and  soul 

"  The  French  are  great  optimists  ;  they  seize 
upon  every  good  as  it  flies,  and  revel  in  the 
passing  pleasure.  The  Englishman  is  too  apt 
to  neglect  the  present  good  in  preparing  against 
the  possible  evil.  However  adversities  may 
lower,  let  the  sun  shine  but  for  a  moment  and 
forth  sallies  the  mercurial  Frenchman,  in  holiday 
dress  and  holiday  spirits,  gay  as  a  butterfly,  as 
though  his  sunshine  were  perpetual ;  but  let 
the  sun  beam  never  so  brightly,  so  there  be  but 
a  cloud  in  the  horizon,  the  wary  Englishman 


262        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ventures  forth  distrustfully,  with  his  umbrella 
in  his  hand. 

"  The  Frenchman  has  a  wonderful  facility  of 
turning  small  things  to  advantage.  No  one 
can  be  gay  and  luxurious  on  smaller  means  ;  no 
one  requires  less  expense  to  be  happy.  He 
practices  a  kind  of  gilding  in  his  style  of  living, 
and  hammers  out  every  guinea  into  gold  leaf. 
The  Englishman,  on  the  contrary,  is  expensive 
in  his  habits,  and  expensive  in  his  enjoyments. 
He  values  every  thing,  whether  useful  or  orna- 
mental, by  what  it  costs.  He  has  no  satisfac- 
tion in  show,  unless  it  be  solid  and  complete. 
Every  thing  goes  with  him  by  the  square  foot. 
Whatever  display  he  makes,  the  depth  is  sure- 
to  equal  the  surface. 

"The  Frenchman's  habitation,  like  himself, 
is  open,  cheerful,  bustling,  and  noisy.  He  lives 
in  a  part  of  a  great  hotel,  with  wide  portal, 
paved  court,  a  spacious,  dirty  stone  staircase, 
and  a  family  on  every  floor.  All  is  clatter  and 
chatter.  He  is  good-humored  and  talkative 
with  his  servants,  sociable  with  his  neigh- 
bors, and  complaisant  to  all  the  world  ;  any  body 
has  access  to  himself  and  his  apartments  ;  his 
very  bed-room  is  open  to  visitors,  whatever  be 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         263 

its  state  of  confusion  ;  and  all  this  not  from  any 
peculiarly  hospitable  feeling,  but  from  that  com- 
municative habit  which  predominates  over  his 
character. 

"  The  Englishman,  on  the  contrary,  ensconses 
himself  in  a  snug  brick  mansion,  which  he  has 
all  to  himself;  locks  the  frontdoor,  puts  broken 
bottles  along  his  walls  and  spring-guns  and 
man-traps  in  his  gardens  ;  shrouds  himself  with 
trees  and  window  curtains  ;  exults  in  his  quiet 
and  privacy,  and  seems  disposed  to  keep  out 
noise,  daylight,  and  company.  His  house,  like 
himself,  has  a  reserved,  inhospitable  exterior ; 
yet  whoever  gains  admittance  is  apt  to  find  a 
warm  heart  and  a  warm  fireside  within. 

"  The  French  excel  in  wit,  the  English  in 
humor ;  the  French  have  gayer  fancy,  the 
English  richer  imaginations.  The  former  are  full 
of  sensibility,  easily  moved,  and  prone  to  sud- 
den and  great  excitement ;  but  the  excitement 
is  not  durable.  The  English  are  more  phleg- 
matic, not  so  readily  affected,  but  capable  of 
being  aroused  to  greater  enthusiasm.  The 
faults  of  these  opposite  temperaments  are 
that  the  vivacity  of  the  French  is  apt  to  sparkle 
up  and  be  frothy,  the  gravity  of  the  English 


264       Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

to  settle  down  and  grow  muddy.  When 
the  two  characters  can  be  fixed  in  a  medium, 
the  French  kept  from  effervescence,  and  the 
English  from  stagnation,  both  will  be  found 
excellent." 


! 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving*         26$ 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

TT  was  about  this  time  (1840)  that  Mr.  Irv- 
-*-  ing  prepared  his  biography  of  "  Goldsmith/' 
forming  one  of  the  volumes  of  Harpers'  Family 
Library.* 

His  deeply  interesting  biography  of  "  Mar- 
garet Davidson  "  f  was  published  in  1841,  the 

*In  his  preface  to  "Goldsmith"  Irving  remarks  of  his 
writings  that  they  were  "  the  delight  of  his  childhood,  and 
had  been  a  source  of  enjoyment  to  him  throughout  life."  Mrs. 
Hall  pronounces  him  "  one  of  the  most  various  and  pleasing 
of  English  writers."  His  writings  were  voluminous,  and 
occupied  with  a  great  variety  of  topics,  in  prose  and  poetry. 
Numerous  biographies  of  *'  Goldsmith "  have  appeared  at 
different  times,  among  which  those  of  Irving  and  Forster  and 
"Prior  are  perhaps  the  most  valuable. 

t  This  wa3  the  younger  of  two  most  remarkable  sisters—- 
the elder,  Lucretia  Maria,  born  in  1808,  and  the  younger, 
Margaret  Miller,  in  1823.  Lucretia  began  to  write  verses  at  four 
years  old,  having  secretly  taught  herself  writing  by  copying 
letters  from  printed  books.  At  sixteen  she  was  placed  at 
school  at  Troy,  New  York,  where  her  health  was  soon  under- 
mined by  hard  study.  Being  unrestrained  from  severe  appli- 
cation she  speedily  fell  into  consumption,  and  died  at  seven- 
teen. She  destroyed  much  of  her  poetry,  but  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  pieces  were  preserved.  . 

Margaret,  the  younger  sister,  whose  biography  was  prepared 
by  Irving,  was  born  in  1823,  and  was  between  two  and  three 


266        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

copyright  of  which  he  transferred  to  the  mother 
of  the  youthful  poetess. 

In  a  letter  to  a  sister  we  have  the  following 
vivid  and  pleasant  picture  of  his  country  neigh- 
borhood as  it  was  at  this  time,  and  about  four 
years  after  the  completion  of  Sunnyside.  4<  You 
would,"  he  writes,  "scarcely  recognize  the 
place,  it  has  undergone  such  changes.  These 
have  in  a  great  degree  taken  place  since  I  have 
pitched  my  tent  in  the  neighborhood.  My 
residence  here  has  attracted  others  ;  cottages 
and  country  seats  have  sprung  up  along  the 
banks  of  the  Tappan  Sea,  and  Tarrytown  has 
become  the  metropolis  of  quite  a  fashionable 
vicinity.  When  you  knew  the  village  it  was 
little  better  than  a  mere  hamlet  crouched  down 
at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  with  its  dock  for  the  accom- 

years  old  at  the  death  of  Lucretia.  She  began  to  write 
poems  at  six ;  at  ten  she  wrote  and  acted  a  drama ;  her 
mental  activity  led  her  in  the  same  way  with  her  sister,  and 
she,  too,  died  of  consumption  when  about  fourteen  years  and 
&  half  old.  The  characters  of  these  two  sisters  seemed  nearly 
angelical,  while  their  poems  are  marked  by  exceeding  sweet- 
ness and  beauty.  The  works  of  both  sisters  are  published 
together. 

Of  Margaret,  Mr.  Irving  says:  "I  saw  her  when  she  was 
about  eleven  years  old,  and  again  when  about  fourteen.  She 
was  a  beautiful  little  being,  a*:  bright  and  as  fragile  as  a 
flower,  and  like  a  flower  she  has  passed  away.  Her  poetical 
effusions  are  surprising,  and  the  spirit  they  breathe  is  heavenly." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         267 

modation  of  the  weekly  market  sloop.  Now  it 
has  mounted  the  hill ;  boasts  of  its  hotels,  and 
churches  of  various  denominations ;  has  its 
little  Episcopalian  Church  with  an  organ — the 
gates  of  which  on  Sundays  are  thronged  with 
equipages  belonging  to  families  resident  within 
ten  or  a  dozen  miles  along  the  river  banks.  We 
have,  in  fact,  one  of  the  most  agreeable  neigh- 
borhoods I  ever  resided  in.  Some  of  our  neigh- 
bors are  here  only  for  the  summer,  having  their 
winter  establishments  in  town  ;  others  remain 
in  the  country  all  the  year.  We  have  frequent 
gatherings  at  each  other's  houses  without  parade 
or  expense,  and  I  do  not  know  when  I  have  seen 
more  delightful  little  parties,  or  more  elegant 
little  groups  of  females.  We  have  occasionally 
excellent  music,  for  several  of  the  neighborhood 
have  been  well  taught,  have  good  voices,  and 
acquit  themselves  well  both  with  harp  and 
piano  ;  and  our  parties  always  end  with  a  dance. 
We  have  picnic  parties  also,  sometimes  in  some 
inland  valley  or  piece  of  wood,  sometimes  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  where  some  repair  by 
land,  others  by  water.  You  would  be  delighted 
with  these  picturesque  assemblages  on  some 
wild  woodland  point  jutting  into  the  Tappan 


268        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Sea,  with  gay  groups  on  the  green  under  the 
trees  ;  carriages  glistening  through  the  woods  ; 
a  yacht,  with  flapping  sails  and  fluttering  stream- 
ers, anchored  about  half  a  mile  from  shore,  and 
row-boats  plying  to  and  from  it  filled  with  lady 
passengers." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         269 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

ANEW  and  distinguished  honor  was  now 
awaiting  Washington  Irving.  He  was 
contemplating  anew  a  Life  of  his  great  and 
illustrious  namesake,  and  had  actually  com- 
menced the  work,  when  news  came  suddenly  to 
him  that  he  had  received  the  appointment  of 
Minister  to  Spain.  Nothing  seemed  to  have 
been  further  from  his  thoughts  than  such  an  ap- 
pointment. Daniel  Webster,  then  Secretary  of 
State,  who  had  recommended  Irving  for  this 
Embassy,  remarked,  when  sufficient  time  had 
elapsed  for  the  message  to  reach  him,  "  Wash- 
ington is  now  the  most  astonished  man  in  the 
city  of  New  York!" 

Every  way  honorable  to  Irving  was  this  ap- 
pointment, and  the  circumstances  attending  it. 
As  noticed,  it  was  utterly  unexpected  and  un- 
thought  of ;  of  course  it  was  entirely  unsought. 
Nor  was  it  due  to  any  political  opinions  or 
preferences,  for  he  seems  to  have  been  the 
least  of  all  a  political  partisan.  His  acquaint- 


270         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ance  with  Spain  and  the  Spanish  language 
doubtless  had  its  weight  in  the  appointment, 
while  it  seemed  to  be  mainly  due  to  his  general 
merit  and  popularity.  A  note  from  New  York 
to  his  brother,  then  at  Sunnyside,  tells  briefly 
the  story : 

"  Nothing  could  be  more  gratifying  than  the 
manner  in  which  this  appointment  has  been 
made.  It  was  suggested  by  Mr.  Webster  to  the 
President,  immediately  adopted  by  him,  heartily 
concurred  in  by  all  the  Cabinet,  and  confirmed  in 
the  Senate  almost  by  acclamation.  When  it  was 
mentioned,  Mr.  Clay,  who  has  opposed  almost 
all  the  other  nominations,  exclaimed,  *  Ah,  this 
is  a  nomination  every  body  will  concur  in  !  If 
the  President  would  send  us  such  names  as  this 
we  should  never  have  any  difficulty/  What  has 
still  more  enhanced  the  gratification  of  this 
signal  honor  is  the  unanimous  applause  with 
which  it  is  greeted  by  the  public.  The  only 
drawback  upon  all  this  is  the  hard  trial  of  tear- 
ing myself  away  from  dear  little  Sunnyside. 
This  has  harassed  me  more  than  I  can  express  ; 
but  I  begin  to  reconcile  myself  to  it,  as  it  will 
be  but  a  temporary  absence." 

Of  course,  Mr.  Irving  accepted  the  appoint- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         271 

ment ;  and  after  visiting  Washington  to  receive 
his  instructions,  and  declining  a  public  dinner 
proffered  to  him,  without  distinction  of  party,  at 
New  York,  he  embarked  for  Spain  April  10,  1842. 
A  rapid  and  prosperous  voyage  brought  him  to 
Bristol,  Eng.,  whence  he  took  cars  for  London. 
Here  and  at  Birmingham,  with  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Van  Wart,  he  spent  three  or  four  delightful 
weeks,  and  then  crossed  the  channel  to  Havre, 
and  after  a  few  days  proceeded  thence  by  steam- 
boat and  cars  to  Paris.     In  a  letter  to  his  sister 
at  Birmingham  is  an  affecting  allusion  to  this 
passage  up  to  the  metropolis :  "  My  visit  to  my 
excellent   friend   Beasly,"   he  writes,  "  and  my 
voyage  up  the  Seine,  however  gratifying  in  other 
respects,  were  full  of  melancholy  associations ; 
for  at  every  step  I  was  reminded  of  my  dear, 
dear  brother  Peter,  who  had  so  often  been  my 
companion  in  these  scenes.     In  fact  he  is  con- 
tinually present  to  my  mind  since  my  return  to 
Europe,  where  we  passed  so  many  years  to- 
gether;   and   I   think  this  circumstance  con- 
tributes greatly  to  the  mixture  of  melancholy 
with  which  of  late  I  regard  all  those  scenes  and 
objects  which  once  occasioned  such  joyous  ex- 
citement."   Visiting  one  little  quiet  and  favorite 


272         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

spot  of  his  brother's  resort  at  Rouen,  he  was 
entirely  unmanned.  "  I  was,  for  a  time,  a  com- 
plete child.  My  dear,  dear  brother !  As  I  write 
the  tears  are  gushing  from  my  eyes." 

At  Paris  also,  as  at  London,  Mr.  Irving 
lingered  a  few  weeks,  making  his  home  with  his 
niece,  Mrs.  Storrow,  who,  not  long  before,  had 
been  one  of  the  little  circle  at  the  "  Roost." 
Here  he  paid  his  respects,  of  course,  to  the 
American  Minister,  Mr.  Cass.  and  was  introduced 
by  him  to  the  royal  family  and  other  distin- 
guished persons. 

Early  in  July,  in  company  with  his  Secretary 
and  the  two  young  gentlemen  attached  to  the 
Embassy,  he  set  forward  for  Madrid.  The  party 
traveled  by  easy  stages,  stopping  at  several 
old  historical  localities,  and  reached  Madrid  on 
the  25th  of  the  month.  He  had  arranged  to 
occupy  the  quarters  of  his  predecessor,  assum- 
ing his  apartments,  furniture,  servants,  and,  in 
general,  the  entire  establishment.  Thus,  with 
the  least  possible  trouble  or  delay,  he  found 
himself,  with  his  companions,  pleasantly  situated, 
and  ready  at  once  for  the  customary  presenta- 
tions at  court.  In  a  day  or  two  he  is  formally 
and  officially  introduced  by  his  predecessor  to 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         273 

the  Regent,  Espartero ;  afterward  he  is  pre- 
sented in  his  official  capacity  to  the  young  Queen 
Isabella.  "  She  received  me,"  he  writes,  "  with 
a  grave  and  quiet  welcome,  expressed  in  a  very 
low  Voice.  She  is  nearly  twelve  years  of  age, 
and  is  sufficiently  well  grown  for  her  years. 
She  has  a  somewhat  fair  complexion,  quite  pale, 
with  bluish  or  light  gray  eyes,  a  grave  de- 
meanor, but  a  graceful  deportment.  I  could 
not  but  regard  her  with  deep  interest,  knowing 
what  important  concerns  depended  upon  the 
life  of  this  fragile  little  being,  and  to  what  a 
stormy  and  precarious  career  she  might  be 
destined."  Upon  these  closing  words  the  pres- 
ent exiled  condition  of  this  same  Queen  Isabella 
is  an  impressive  commentary. 

Here,  after  being  well  settled  with  his  books, 
Mr.  Irving  had  anticipated  abundant  leisure 
and  opportunity  for  literary  occupation,  and 
proposed  to  engage  at  once  upon  his  Life  of 
Washington.  This  pleasant  anticipation,  how- 
ever, was  not  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  He  did, 
indeed,  compose  several  chapters  of  his  new 
work,  but  he  was  soon  compelled  to  experience 
a  return  of  the  tedious  disease  which  had 

troubled  him  twenty  years  before.    This  attack 
18 


274        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

of  illness  was  long  and  wearisome,  rendering  it 
impossible  for  him  to  write,  while  even  reading 
was  disapproved  by  his  physician.     By  the  ad- 
vice of  the  latter,  he,  about  a  year  after  his  arrival 
at  Madrid,  committed  the  care  of  the  Embassy 
to   his    Secretary  and   made  a  visit  to   Paris, 
taking  lodgings  at  Versailles  with  his  niece  and 
her  husband.    Here  his  time  passed  delightfully, 
although  he  was  able  to  walk  but  little  without 
aggravating  his  malady.     He  returned,  after  an 
absence  of  three  months,  just  in  time  to  witness 
the  rejoicings  on  account  of  the  young  Queen's 
accession  to  the  throne.     "  All  the  houses,"  he 
writes, "  were  decorated,  the  balconies  hung  with 
tapestry  ;  there  were  triumphal  arches,  fountains 
running  with   milk  and  wine,  games,  dances, 
processions  and  parades  by  day,  illuminations 
and  spectacles  at  night,  and  the  streets  were 
constantly  thronged  by  the  populace   in  their 
holiday  garb." 

Mr  Irving  was  now  sixty  years  of  age,  and 
during  the  year  and  a  half  which  he  had  spent 
abroad,  part  of  which  time  he  experienced 
ill  health,  he  often  looked  with  longing  eyes 
toward  his  "  dear  Sunnyside  home."  "  My  heart 
yearns  for  home,  and  as  I  have  now  probably 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  275 

turned  the  last  corner  in  life,  and  my  remain- 
ing years  are  growing  scanty  in  number,  I 
begrudge  every  one  that  I  am  obliged  to  pass 
separated  from  my  cottage  and  my  kindred." 

In  the  summer  of  1844,  while  at  Barcelona, 
whither  he  had  come  from  Madrid  with  dis- 
patches from  our  Government  to  the  Spanish 
Queen,  Mr.  Irving  received  also  a  dispatch 
granting  him  temporary  leave  of  absence  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health.  Accordingly,  in  a  week's 
time  he  was  off  for  Paris,  by  way  of  Marseilles, 
Avignon,  and  Lyons.  Passing  a  few  delightful 
days  with  his  niece  and  her  family  at  Versailles, 
he  set  off  for  Havre  to  visit  a  friend  there,  and 
thence  took  passage  direct  to  London.  Passing 
through  the  city  incognito^  he  immediately  took 
cars  for  his  sister's  at  Birmingham,  whence, 
after  a  three  weeks'  visit,  he  set  his  face  again 
toward  France.  At  Paris  he  tarried  some  time 
to  avail  himself  of  the  baths,  visited  the  royal 
family  at  St.  Cloud,  and  then  proceeded  to 
Madrid,  which  he  reached  near  the  middle  of 
November,  to  the  great  joy  of  his  household." 

Mr.Irving's  private  letters  of  this  period  of  his 
Embassy  represent  the  Spanish  court  as  being 
remarkably  gay.  The  present  exiled  Queen 


276        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

he  pictures  as  being  then  in  her  bright  and  early 
youth,  handsome,  gay,  and  full  of  life.  At  a 
court  ball  at  the  hotel  of  General  Narvaez  "  she 
was  in  high  glee.  Indeed,  I  never  saw  a  school- 
girl at  a  school  ball  enjoy  herself  more  com- 
pletely. At  some  blunders  and  queer  and  old- 
fashioned  dancing  of  one  of  the  foreign  ministers 
she  was  convulsed  with  laughter.  "  I  have 
never  seen  her  in  such  a  joyous  mood,  having 
chiefly  seen  her  on  ceremonious  occasions,  and 
had  no  idea  that  she  had  so  much  real///;/  in 
her  disposition.  She  danced  with  various  mem- 
bers of  the  diplomatic  corps  ;  and  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  she  was  asked  if 
she  could  venture  upon  another  dance,  '  O  yes  ! ' 
she  replied,  '  I  could  dance  eight  more  if  nec- 
essary.' "  Mr.  Irving's  own  mental  position  at 
this  period  of  his  life,  and  amid  the  gayeties 
of  the  Spanish  court,  is  not  without  interest. 
In  a  letter  to  his  niece,  Mrs.  Storrow,  he  repre- 
sents himself  as  often  being,  in  the  midst  of  the 
brilliant  throngs,  the  very  dullest  of  the  dull,  as 
inclined  to  gaze  on  the  crowd  around  him  with 
perfect  apathy,  and  finds  it  next  to  impossible 
to  reciprocate  the  common-place  speeches  so 
common  in  fashionable  society.  "  I  have  grown 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.  ,      277 

too  old  or  too  wise  for  all  that.  I  hope  those 
who  observe  my  delinquency  attribute  it  to  the 
latter  cause." 

Whether  they  did  so  "  attribute  it "  or  not, 
a  multitude  of  others,  equally  wise  and  good, 
will  unfailingly  contemplate  the  matter  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  wishes  ;  and  the  pity  is  that 
such  beautiful  wisdom  too  often  comes  so  late  ; 
that  it  should  not  come  even  amid  the  dew  of 
youth. 

"  My  son,  if  thou  wilt  receive  my  words,  and 
hide  my  commandments  with  thee  ;  so  that  thou 
incline  thine  ear  unto  wisdom,  and  apply  thine 
heart  to  understanding ;  yea,  if  thou  cryest  after 
knowledge,  and  liftcst  up  thy  voice  for  under- 
standing; if  thou  seckest  her  as  silver,  and 
searchest  for  her  as  for  hid  treasures;  then 
shalt  thou  understand." 


278        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

HT*  HE  spring  of  1845  found  Mr.  Irving  again 
•*•  restored  to  perfect  health,  and  anticipat- 
ing the  gratification  of  returning  to  the  use  of 
his  pen,  now  for  a  long  time  laid  aside  save  for 
the  purpose  of  correspondence.  In  the  follow- 
ing autumn  he  sent  home  his  resignation  of  the 
Spanish  Embassy  ;  but  his  successor  did  not 
arrive  until  July  of  the  next  year,  when  he  at 
once  set  out  for  England,  and  early  in  Septem- 
ber embarked  for  Boston,  where  he  arrived  safely 
on  the  1 8th,  having  been  absent  about  four  and 
a  half  years. 

The  day  after  he  reached  Boston  he  was  in 
New  York,  and  that  afternoon  he  took  passage 
for  Sunnyside.  What  was  his  joy  on  reaching 
his  home  so  greatly  "  beloved  and  longed  for," 
and  what  was  the  joy  of  his  friends  to  greet  him 
after  so  long  an  absence,  must  be  left  to  the 
imagination  of  the  reader. 

He  very  soon  undertook  an  ample  enlarge- 
ment of  the  cottage,  so  as  to  render  it  entirely 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         279 

eligible  for  the  accommodation  of  himself  and 
his  brother's  family.  The  improvement  thus 
made  seems,  when  finished,  to  have  surpassed 
his  expectation.  But  he  did  not  stop  with  the 
dwelling,  for,  writing  to  his  niece  at  Paris,  he  in- 
forms her  that  he  had  proceeded  to  bring  his 
place  into  complete  order,  providing  all  the 
necessary  offices  for  accommodating  horses, 
poultry,  and  for  other  purposes ;  and  that  the 
constant  superintendence  of  his  improvements 
had  much  fatigued  him,  and  had  revived,  to 
some  extent,  his  old  disease.  But  he  enjoyed 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  his  place  brought  into 
perfect  order  "  both  within  doors  and  without." 
A  few  days  afterward  issues  from  his  pencil 
the  following  picture  : 

"  My  own  place  has  never  been  so  beautiful 
as  at  present.  I  have  made  more  openings  by 
pruning  and  cutting  down  trees,  so  that  from 
the  piazza  I  have  several  charming  views  of  the 
Tappan  Sea  and  the  hills  beyond,  all  set,  as  it 
were,  in  a  verdant  frame ;  and  I  am  never  tired  of 
sitting  there  in  my  old  Voltaire  chair  of  a  sum- 
mer morning,  with  a  book  in  my  hand,  sometimes 
reading,  sometimes  musing,  and  sometimes  doz- 
ing, an4  nu*ing  all  up  in  a  pleasant  dream." 


280        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Irving  seems  now  to  be  favorably  situated  for 
„  resuming  his  pen,  and  we  accordingly  find  him 
fully  at  work  upon  his  "  Life  of  Washington." 
The  winter  of  1847  he  spent  among  his  friends 
in  New  York.  His  practice  here  was  to  work 
with  his  pen  during  the  morning  hours,  and  de- 
vote the  remainder  of  the  day  and  evening  to 
visiting  and  attending  the  opera. 

In  the  following  summer  he  entered  into  an 
arrangement  with  Mr.  George  P.  Putnam  for  the 
publication  of  a  new  and  uniform  edition  of  his 
works.  By  this  arrangement  Mr.  Putnam  was 
to  publish  the  works  entirely  at  his  own  expense, 
and  allow  the  author  twelve  and  a  half  percent, 
on  the  retail  price  of  each  volume  sold.  The 
arrangement  proved  advantageous  to  both  par- 
ties. The  new  editions  as  they  successively 
appeared  met  with  full  success ;  a  success  which 
proved  conclusively  that  the  fame  of  the  author, 
instead  of  being  empty  and  transient,  was  of 
that  kind  which  is  solid  and  enduring. 

This  new  publication  by  Putnam  of  Irving's 
writings  included  not  only  the  works  heretofore 
published,  but  several  new  volumes  additional. 
He  prepared,  for  example,  by  request  of  Mr. 
Putnam,  a  new  ancj  enlarged  Biography  of  Gold- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         281 

smith.  He  wrote  this  work  with  great  dispatch, 
intermitting,  for  the  purpose,  his  labor  on  his 
Life  of  Washington.  He  further  prolonged 
that  intermission  to  write  his  two  volumes, 
"  Mahomet  and  his  Successors."  These  were 
both  added  to  the  list  of  the  collected  works, 
while  the  "  Alhambra"  and  "  Conquest  of 
Granada"  closed  the  revised  series. 

This  important  plan  being  fulfilled,  Mr.  Irving 
once  more  resumed  his  "  Washington, "  which 
he  designed  to  be  his  great  and  last  work,  and 
which   he  was   anxious  to  complete  so  as  to 
enjoy  a  little  season  of  leisure  and  rest  previous 
to  his  death.    In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1852, 
in  a  letter  to  his  niece  at  Paris,  penned  when 
sixty-nine  years  of  age,  we  have  a  picture  as 
affecting  as  it  is  interesting.     "  It  is  now  half 
past   twelve  £t   night,   and  I  am   sitting  here 
scribbling  in  my  study  long  after  all  the  family 
are  abed  and  asleep,  a  habit  I  have  fallen  much 
into   of  late.      Indeed,  I   never   fagged   more 
steadily  with  my  pen  than  I  do  at  present.     I 
have  a  long  task  in  hand  which  I  am  anxious  to 
finish,  that  I  may  have  a  little  leisure  in  the 
brief  remnant  of  life  that  is  left  to  me.     How* 
ever,  I  have  a  strong  presentiment  that  I  shall 


282        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

die  in  harness,  and  I  am  content  to  do  so,  pro- 
vided I  have  the  cheerful  exercise  of  intellect  to 
the  last" 

Yet  as  the  spring  comes  on  he  complains  that 
his  work  in  hand  lags  and  drags  heavily,  being 
interrupted  by  repeated  turns  of  ill-health,  which 
seem  to  have  been  common  with  him  for  the 
two  or  three  preceding  years.     "  This  spring," 
he  writes,  4<I  have  been  almost  entirely  idle, 
from  my  mind's  absolutely  refusing  to  be  put  in 
harness.     I  no  longer  dare  task  it  as  I  used  to 
do.     When  a  man  is  in  his  seventieth  year  it  is 
time  to  be  cautious.     I  thought  I  should  have 
been  through  this  special  undertaking  by  this 
time,  but  an  unexpected  turn  of  bilious  fever  in 
midwinter  put  me  all  aback,  and  now  I  have 
renounced  all  further  pressing  myself  in  the 
matter." 

This  state  of  things  determined  him  to  spend 
a  part  of  the  ensuing  summer  at  Saratoga, 
where  he  entered  with  zest  into  the  social  life 
of  that  celebrated  resort ;  and  the  pleasant 
recreation  in  which  he  indulged,  together  with 
a  free  use  of  the  waters,  proved  decidedly  bene- 
ficial. "  I  take  the  waters  every  morning,"  he 
writes,  "  and  think  they  have  a  great  effect  on 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         283 

my  system.  I  have  entirely  got  rid  of  all  bil- 
ious symptoms,  and  find  my  mental  faculties 
refreshed,  invigorated,  and  brightened  up.  I 
have  no  doubt  I  derive  some  benefit  from  gos- 
sipinf  away  part  of  the  day  in  very  agreeable 
female  society,  in  which  I  experience  such  favor- 
able treatment  as  inclines  me  to  think  old  gen- 
tlemen are  coming  into  fashion." 

Returning  from  Saratoga  about  the  first  of 
August,  so  much  was  his  delightful  company 
missed  there  that  many  of  those  still  remaining 
joined  in  an  invitation  to  him  to  return,  that  the 
pleasure  of  his  society  might  for  a  few  days  be 
renewed.  He,  however,  declined  the  invita- 
tion. Of  course,  while  at  the  Springs  he  was 
an  object  of  universal  attention,  for  his  fame  had 
long  since  become  national.  At  the  same  time, 
as  a  friend  who  was  with  him  there  writes,  "  No 
one  seemed  more  unconscious  of  the  celebrity  to 
which  he  had  attained.  In  this  there  was  not 
a  particle  of  affectation.  Nothing  he  shrank 
from  with  greater  earnestness  and  sincerity 
than  any  attempt  to  lionize  him.  .  .  .  He  much 
preferred  sauntering  out  alone,  or  with  some 
familiar  friend — trusting  to  any  accidental  event 
that  might  occur  to  indulge  his  own  whim 


284        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

or  fancy,  or  crack  a  joke,  as  occasion  might 
call." 

The  next  winter  Mr.  Irving  visited  Washing- 
ton, and  was  the  guest  for  nearly  two  months 
of  Secretary  Kennedy.  The  main  purpose  of 
this  visit  was  to  consult  the  State  archives  in 
aid  of  his  "  Life  of  Washington."  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  accomplished  his  purpose  with 
much  difficulty,  owing  to  the  perpetual  lionizing 
to  which  he  was  subjected  there,  as  in  the  sum- 
mer before  at  Saratoga.  He  writes  to  his  nieces 
at  home  that  he  had  a  world  of  documents 
to  examine,  but  was  much  interrupted.  He 
was  managing,  however,  to  keep  clear  of  the 
evening  parties,  but  the  long  dinners  and  return 
of  visits  were  inevitable,  and  "  cut  up  his  time 
deplorably."  He  tarried  till  after  the  inaugu- 
ration of  President  Pierce,  and  then  returned  to 
Sunnvside. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        285 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

FROM  the  period  of  his  return  from  Wash- 
ington for  two  years  onward,  Mr.  Irving 
seems  to  have  prosecuted,  with  considerable  in- 
tervals of  sickness,  excursions,  and  visits,  his 
new  work.  His  health  after  reaching  seventy 
was  capricious  and  uncertain.  His  spirits, 
however,  were  almost  always  cheery,  and  he 
retained  fully  all  those  genial  and  kindly  traits 
for  which  he  had  throughout  life  been  so  greatly 
distinguished. 

He  was  seventy-two  when  he  issued  the  first 
volume  of  his  "Washington."  This  volume 
carried  forward  the  history  of  its  subject  to  his 
arrival  at  the  camp  before  Boston  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief  of  the  American  Army.  He 
appears  to  have  had  serious  misgivings  in  re- 
spect to  the  reception  and  success  of  this  vol- 
ume, entertaining  some  fears  that  it  "  might  be 
the  death  of  him."  Amid  such  misgivings  and 
fears,  however,  he  received  the  following  note 
from  Mr.  Bancroft,  the  historian : 


286        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

"  Your  volume,  of  which  I  gained  a  copy  last 
night,  (and  this  morning  have  received  one  made 
still  more  precious  by  your  own  hand,)  short- 
ened my  sleep  last  night  at  both  ends.     I  was 
up  late  and  early,  and  could  not  rest  until  I  had 
finished  the  last  page.     Candor,  good  judgment 
that  knows  no  bias,  the  felicity  of  selection, 
these  are  yours  in  common  with  the  best  histo- 
rians.   But,  in  addition,  you  have  the  peculiarity 
of  writing  from  the  heart,  enchaining  sympathy 
as  well  as  commanding  confidence — the  happy 
magic  that  makes  scenes,  events,  and  personal 
anecdotes  present  themselves  to  you  at  your 
bidding,  and  fall  into  their  natural  places,  and  take 
color  and  warmth  from  your  own  nature.     The 
style,  too,  is  masterly,  clear,  easy,  and  graceful ; 
picturesque  without  mannerism,  and  ornamented 
without  losing  simplicity.     Among  men  of  let- 
ters who  do  well,  you  must  above  all  take  the 
name  of  Felix,  which  so  few  of  the  great  Roman 
generals   could  claim.      You  do   every   thing 
rightly,  as  if  by  grace ;  and  I  am  in  no  fear  of 
offending  your  modesty,  for  I  think  you  were 
elected  and  fore-ordained  to  excel  your  contem- 
poraries/' 

Such  a  letter  as  this,  and  from  such  a  source, 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         287 

joined  with  other  flattering  notices  of  the 
new  work,  encouraged  him  to  proceed,  and  to 
accomplish  the  entire  undertaking  at  whatever 
expense  of  labor. 

Hence,  within  six  months  following  the  first 
volume  appeared  the  second,  bringing  the  nar- 
rative down  to  the  victories  of  Trenton  and 
Princeton.  On  the  reception  of  this  volume 
Prescott,  the  historian,  thus  addresses  the 
author : 

"  You  have  done  with  Washington  just  as  I 
thought  you  would ;  and,  instead  of  a  cold 
marble  statue  of  a  demi-god,  you  have  made  him 
a  being  of  flesh  and1,  blood  like  ourselves — one 
with  whom  we  can  have  sympathy.  The  gen- 
eral sentiment  of  the  country  has  been  too 
decidedly  expressed  for  you  to  doubt  for  a 
moment  that  this  is  the  portrait  of  him  which 
is  to  hold  a  permanent  place  in  the  national 
gallery." 

Other  letters  of  approval  from  different  sources, 
Bancroft,  Tuckerman,  and  others,  poured  in 
upon  him  as  this  second  volume  appeared.  In 
two  months  more  the  third  volume  was  already 
passing  through  the  press,  and  was  published 
in  the  following  July,  (1856,)  extending  the  nar- 


288         Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

rative  to  Washington's  return  to  winter-quarters 
in    1779.      In  May  of  the  following  year  the 
fourth  volume  was  published,  on  occasion  of 
which  a  letter  from  Bancroft  pronounced   his 
picture  of  Washington  "  the  most  vivid   and 
truest  that  had  ever  been  written ;"  and  Pres- 
cott  writes,  "  I  have  never  before  fully  compre- 
hended the  character  of  Washington,  nor  did  I 
know  what  capabilities  it  would  afford   to  his 
biographer.      Hitherto  we  have  only  seen  him 
as  a  sort  of  marble  Colossus,  full  of  moral  great- 
ness, but  without  the  touch  of  humanity  that 
would  give  him  interest.    You  have  known  how 
to  give  the  marble  flesh  color,  that  brings  it  to 
the  resemblance  of  life." 

On  the  gth  of  March,  1859,  he  put  the  finish- 
ing touch  to  the  fifth  and  last  volume  of  his 
"  Life  of  Washington."  The  printers  were 
nearly  up  with  him  when  the  final  sheet  was 
completed,  and  the  volume  appeared  forthwith. 
And  the  pen  of  Washington  Irving  dropped 
from  his  hand  never  to  be  resumed. 

We  subjoin  here  a  general  view,  from  the 
pen  of  Edward  Everett,  of  Mr.  Irving  as  a 
writer : 

"  We  regard  Washington  Irving  as  tiie  best 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         289 

living  writer  of  English  prose.     Let  those  who 
doubt  the  correctness  of  this  opinion  name  his 
superior.      Let  our  brethren  in  England  name 
the  writer  whom  they  place  before  Washington 
Irving.     He  unites  the  various  qualities  of  a 
perfect   manner  of  writing ;  and    so   happily 
adjusted  and   balanced   are    they,   that    their 
separate  marked  existence  disappears  in  their 
harmonious  blending.     His  style  is  sprightly, 
pointed,  easy,  correct,  and  expressive,  without 
being  too  studiously  guarded  against  the  oppo- 
site faults.     It  is  without  affectation,  parade,  or 
labor.     If  we  were  to  characterize  a  manner 
which  owes  much  of  its  merit  to  the  absence  of 
any  glaring  characteristic,  we  should  perhaps 
say   that  it   is,  above  the  style  of  all   other 
writers  of  the  day,  marked  with  an  expressive 
elegance.    Washington  Irving  never  buries  up 
the  clearness  and  force  of  the  meaning  under 
a  heap  of  fine  words  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand, 
does  he  think  it  necessary  to  be  coarse,  sloven- 
ly, or  uncouth,  in  order  to  be  emphatic.  ,  .  . 

"  In  bestowing  upon  Mr.  Irving  the  praise  of 
a  perfect  style  of  writing  it  must  not  be  under- 
stood that  we  commend  him  in  a  point  of  mere 

manner.     To  write  as  Mr.  Irving  writes  is  not 
19 


290        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

an  affair  which  rests  in  a  dexterous  use  of 
words  alone  ;  at  least  not  if  we  admit  the  popu- 
lar but  unphilosophical  distinction  between 
words  and  ideas.  Mr.  Irving  writes  well  be- 
cause he  thinks  well ;  because  his  ideas  are 
just,  clear,  and  definite.  He  knows  what  he 
wants  to  say,  and  expresses  it  distinctly  and 
intelligibly  because  he  so  apprehends  it.  There 
is  also  no  affectation  of  the  writer,  because 
there  is  none  in  the  man.  There  is  no  pomp 
in  his  sentences,  because  there  is  no  arro- 
gance in  his  temper.  There  is  no  over- 
loading with  ornament,  because,  with  the  eye 
of  an  artist,  he  sees  when  he  has  got  enough  ; 
and  he  is  sprightly  and  animated  because  he 
catches  his  tints  from  nature,  and  dips  his 
pencil  in  truth,  which  is  always  fresh  and 
racy.  .  .  . 

"Washington  Irving  has  been  much  and 
justly  commended  in  England  and  America, 
but  full  justice  has  not  yet  been  done  him. 
Compare  him  with  any  of  the  distinguished 
writers  of  his  class  of  lais  generation,  except- 
ing Sir  Walter  Scott,  and  with  almost  any  of 
what  are  called  the  English  classics  of  any  age. 
Compare  him  with  Goldsmith,  one  of  the  canon- 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         291 

ized  names  of  the  British  pantheon  of  letters, 
who  touched  every  kind  of  writing,  and  adorned 
every  thing  he  touched.  In  one  or  two  depart- 
ments, it  is  true — that  of  poetry,  and  the  one  or 
two  departments  which  Mr.  Irving  has  not 
attempted,  and  in  drama  departments,  which 
Mr.  Irving  has  not  attempted,  and  in  which 
much  of  Goldsmith's  merit  lies — the  comparison 
partly  fails  ;  but  place  their  pretensions  in  every 
other  respect  side  by  side,  who  would  think 
of  giving  the  miscellaneous  writings  of  Gold- 
smith a  preference  over  those  of  l!rving  ?  and 
who  would  name  his  historical  compositions  with 
the  "  Life  of  Columbus  ? "  If  in  the  drama  and 
in  poetry  Goldsmith  should  seem  to  have  ex- 
tended his  province  greatly  beyond  that  of 
Irving,  the  "  Life  of  Columbus  "  is  zchefd'&uvre 
in  a  department  which  Goldsmith  can  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  touched;  for  the  trifles  on 
Grecian  and  Roman  history  which  his  poverty 
extorted  from  him  deserve  to  enter  into  com- 
parison with  Mr.  living's  great  work  about  as 
much  as  Eutropius  deserves  to  be  compared 
with  Livy.  Then  how  much  wider  Irving's 
range  in  that  department  common  to  both,  the 
painting  of  manners  and  character !  From  Mr. 


292  Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

Irving  we  have  the  humors  of  contemporary 
politics  and  every-day  life  in  America:  the 
traditionary  peculiarities  of  the  Dutch  founders 
of  New  York ;  the  nicest  shades  of  the  s  chooi 
of  English  manners  of  the  last  century  ;  the 
chivalry  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  Spain;  the 
glittering  visions  of  Moorish  romance— a  large 
cycle  of  sentimental  creations  founded  on  the 
invariable  experience,  the  pathetic  sameness, 
.of  the  human  heart,  and,  lastly,  the  whole  un- 
hackneyed freshness  of  the  West :  life  beyond 
the  border,  a  camp  outside  the  frontier,  a 
hunt  on  buffalo  ground,  beyond  which  neither 
white  nor  Pawnee,  man  nor  muse  can  go. 
This  is  Mr.  Irving' s  range,  and  in  every  part  of 
it  he  is  equally  at  home.\  When  he  writes  the 
"  History  of  Columbus  "  you  see  him  weighing 
doubtful  facts  in  the  scales  of  a  golden  criticism. 
You  behold  him  laden  with  the  manuscript 
treasures  of  well-searched  archives,  and  dispos- 
ing the  heterogeneous  materials  into  a  well- 
digested  and  instructive  narration.  Take  down 
another  of  his  volumes,  and  you  find  him  in 
the  parlor  of  an  English  country  inn  of  a  rainy 
.  day,  and  you  look  out  of  the  window  with  him 
upon  the  dripping,  dreary  desolation  of  the 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         293 

back-yard.    Anon,  he  takes  you  into  the  ances- 
tral hall  of  a  Baronet  of  the  old  school  and 
instructs    you    in    the    family    traditions,    of 
which  the  memorials  adorn  the  walls  and  de- 
pend from  the  rafters.    Before  you  are  wearied 
with  the  curious  lore  you  are  on  the  pursuit 
of  Kidd,  the  pirate,  in  the  recesses  of  Long 
Island  ;  and,  by  the  next  touch  of  the  enchant- 
er's wand,  you  are  rapt   into  an  enthusiastic 
reverie  of  the  mystic  East  within  the  crum- 
bling walls  of  the   Alhambra.     You   sigh  to 
think  you  were  not  born   six  hundred  years 
ago,  that  you  could  not  have  beheld  those  now 
deserted  halls  as  they  once  blazed  in  triumph, 
and  rang  with  the  mingled  voices  of  Oriental 
chivalry  and   song,   when   you   find   yourself 
once  more  borne  across  the  Atlantic,  whirled 
into  the  Western  wilderness,  with  a   prairie 
wide  as  the   ocean  before  you,  and  a  dusky 
herd  of  buffaloes,  like  a  crowded  convoy  of 
fleeing   merchantmen,  looming  in  the  horizon 
and  inviting  you  to  the  chase.    This  is  literally 
"  nullum  fere  genus  scribendi  non  tigit  nullum 
quod  tetiget  non  ornovit.*    Whether  any  thing 

•  "  There  was  almost  no  kind  of  writing  which  he  did  not 
touch,  or  which,  touching,  he  did  not  adorn." 


294        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

like  an  equal  range  is  to  be  found  in  the 
works  of  him  on  whom  the  splendid  compli- 
ment was  first  bestowed  it  is  not  difficult  to 
say." 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.        295 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

MR.  IRVING  was  one  of  the  not  very  nu- 
merous class  of  writers  who  become  rich 
by  authorship  ;  and,  whatever  may  be  thought 
of  his  lack  of  business  capacity  otherwise, 
certain  it  is  that  his  transactions  with  his  several 
publishers  indicate  no  such  deficiency. 

From  most  of  his  works  he  shrewdly  managed 
to  reap  a  double  harvest,  English  and  American  ; 
selling  at  once  his  copyrights  to  his  English 
publishers,  and  leasing  them  to  his  publishers 
at  home.  Thus  we  have  the  following  exhibit, 
nearly  as  presented  by  his  biographer : 

AMOUNTS  REALIZED  FROM  THE  SALE  OF  COPYRIGHTS  IN 
ENGLAND  : 

Sketch-Book,  £467  los.,  or  about $2,338  oo 

Bracebridge  Hall 5*250  oo 

Tales  of  a  Traveler * . .  7,875  oo 

Life   of  Columbus 15,75000 

Companions  of  Columbus , 2,625  oo 

Conquest  of  Granada. ._ 10,500  oo 

Tour  on  the  Prairies ......,..' 2,000  oo 

Abbotsford    and  Ncwstead. 2,00000 

Legends  of  Spain 50000 

Alhambra 5*250  oo 

Astoria. 2,500  oo 

Bonneville's  Adventures 4,500  oo 

Amount $61,088  oo 


296        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

AMOUNTS  REALIZED  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  FOR  LEASES 
OF  COPYRIGHTS  : 

Columbus. $3,ooo  oo 

Abridgment  of  Columbus. 6,000  oo 

Conquest  of  Granada 4»75<>  oo 

Companions  of  Columbus. i»5oo  oo 

A lhambra. 3, ooo  oo 

Tour  on  the  Prairies. 2,400  oo 

Abbotsford  and  Newstead 2,100  oo 

Legends  of  the  Conquest  of  Spain i»5OO  oo 

Astoria 4,000  oo 

Bonneville's  Adventures SfOOO  oo 

Knickerbocker,  Sketch-Book,  Bracebridge  Hall, 

and  Tales. 4,200  oo 

Receipts  for  the  lasc  four  works  previous  to  1828  19,500  oo 

Further  lease  of  these  four  and  other  works 8,050  oo 

Amount  for  leases  of  copyright $63,000  oo 

After  the  arrangement  with  Mrs  Putnam  for  the  uniform  edi- 
tion of  his  works,  Mr.  Irving,  up  to  the  time  of  his  decease, 
received  from  his  publisher,  (besides  the  stereotype  and  steel 

plates,  valued  at  $17,000) $88,143  °° 

Add  the  foregoing  amount  from  leases. 63,000  oo 

Add  also   the  foregoing  amount   from  English 

copyrights 61,088  oo 

Amount  received  in  his  life-time. . . .    $212,231  oo 
Add  the  amount  received  in  four  years  after  his 
death. , 34*237  oo 

Whole  amount  from  his  writings  up  to  1864. . .     $256,468  oo 

Hence  it  is  certain  that  Irving's  picture  of 
"  Poor  Devil  Author"  was  but  very  slightly  ap- 
plicable to  himself. 


Memoir  of  Washington  Irving.         297 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

OF  the  religious  character  of  Washington 
Irving  there  seems  to  be  but  slight  and 
not  very  satisfactory  notices.    That  he  was, 
throughout,  a  believer  in  Christianity  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt ;  while  yet  we  cannot  but 
regret  that  the  religious  element,  as  with  too 
many  accomplished  writers,  is  so  much  wanting 
in  all  the  varied  and  extensive  range  of  his 
numerous  works.     "Out  of  the  abundance  of 
the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh"   and  the  pen 
writeth  ;  and  we  have  a  right  to  infer  that  if  the 
religious  sentiment  had  been  of  much  promi- 
nence in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  illustrious 
author  there  would  have  been  a  fuller  revelation 
of  it  in  his  voluminous  compositions. 

As  he  grew  old  we  detect  a  wish  for  religious 
confidence  and  peace.  In  a  letter  written  when 
fifty-seven  years  of  age  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Van 
Wart,  alluding  to  their  brother  Ebenezer,  he 
writes  :  "  I  think  him  one  of  the  most  perfect 
examples  of  the  Christian  character  that  I  have 


1298        Memoir  of  Washington  Irving. 

ever  known.  He  has  all  father's  devotion  and 
zeal,  without  his  strictness.  Indeed,  his  piety 
is  of  the  most  genial  and  cheerful  kind,  inter- 
fering with  no  rational  pleasure  or  elegant  taste, 
and  obtruding  itself  upon  no  one's  habits,  opin- 
ions, or  pursuits.  I  wish  to  God  I  could  feel 
like  him.  I  envy  him  that  indwelling  source  of 
consolation  and  enjoyment  which  appears  to 
have  a  happier  effect  than  all  the  maxims  of 
philosophy  or  the  lessons  of  worldly  wisdom." 

At  the  age  of  sixty-five,  and  ten  or  eleven 
years  previous  to  his  death,  Mr.  Irving  connected 
himself  with  the  Episcopal  Church  in  his  neigh- 
borhood, and  we  may  hope  that  his  latter  days 
were  days  of  devotion  and  prayer.  At  the  same 
time  we  are  pained  that  amid  the  protracted 
illness  from  which  he  never  recovered  there  is 
but  little  expression  of  religious  confidence  and 
hope,  and  that  the  Divine  consolations  were  so 
little  alluded  to,  and  apparently  so  scantily 
enjoyed. 

By  the  time  the  last  volume  of  his  "  Wash- 
ington" was  undertaken  Mr.  Irving's  health 
had  begun  seriously  to  decline,  and  it  grew 
worse  and  worse  as  the  work  proceeded.  Asth- 
ma, accompanied  with  cough,  nervousness,  and 


Mefnoir  of  Washington  Irving.        299 

consequent  interruption  of  sleep,  were  his  promi- 
nent symptoms.  With  some  brief  intervals  of 
reviving  and  more  hopeful  prospects,  he  con- 
tinued, on  the  whole,  to  decline,  until  on  the 
evening  of  November  28,  1859,  as  he  was  pre- 
paring to  retire  for  the  night,  he  fell  and  in- 
stantly expired. 

On  the  third  day  following,  a  beautiful  Indian 
summer  day,  and  as  the  sun  was  sinking  to 
his  "  golden  rest,"  was  laid  in  his  chosen  resting- 
place,  by  the  side  of  her  that  bore  him,  the 
remains  of  WASHINGTON  IRVING. 


THE  END. 


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